


Everything in Politics is Fake

by Sarcasticskeleton



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Domestic Fluff, Eventual Romance, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Funny, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-05-19 10:09:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 47,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14871762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarcasticskeleton/pseuds/Sarcasticskeleton
Summary: Carmilla's Mom is a senator. After she finds out Carmilla is gay she kicks her out of the house.So Carmilla has to live with Laura and her dad and for some reason everyone thinks they're dating.When Mattie calls and says she wants to use their relationship to expose Carmilla's mom and take away her senate seat, they have to decide if faking a relationship is worth it to get revenge.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys enjoy, It's mainly just an excuse for me to ignore all my school deadlines and write Hollstein fluff because I ran out of stories to read whist procrastinating.

“So, how long until you two finally get together?” Kirsch asks between mouthfuls of pasta, gesturing with his fork at the two girls across the table.

Both girls froze, Laura with a forkful of food halfway to her mouth. They turned to Kirsch who had continued shoveling food into his mouth like he hadn’t just said something ridiculous, in the worst possible setting.

“No, we're just”

“Friends!” Carmilla cuts Laura off before she can finish.

Will starts laughing, “Good one Kirsch, as if broody McSour puss over there could get little miss sunshine.” 

Carmilla flipped him off as Laura blushed and sent him a half-hearted glare. Which only made him laugh harder, until Mrs. Karnstein cleared her throat at the head of the table.

“Sorry mom” Will said, Carmilla grunted in agreement.

“I would appreciate it if you two could behave in front of our guests.” Her steely-eyed gaze was enough to make all four children stare at their plates in shame. “Oh and Wilson, I can assure you my daughter is single if a respectable young man is interested.”

“Mom!” Carmilla exclaimed.

“Oh, uh I already have a girlfriend Mrs. Karnstein but I’m sure your daughter is a catch” 

The table lapses into an uncomfortable silence as they all return their attention to their food. After a beat of silence Carmilla feels Laura’s hand squeezing her knee under the table. She looks up and Laura gives her a warm reassuring smile before she goes back to eating.

Xxx

“Hey Dad I’m leaving for school I’ll see you tonight” Laura yelled over her shoulder as she grabbed her backpack and car keys off the table.

“Alright sweetie drive safe” She heard her dads reply as she walked out the front door.

When Laura pulled into the parking lot she immediately noticed Carmilla’s car parked in it’s usual spot in the back. Carmilla was never at school this early, so as soon as Laura parked her own car she started looking for her friend.  
She spotted Will walking toward her so she stood in place until he reached her. 

“Hey Will, where’s your sister? And why is she here so early?” She asked with a smile once he was close enough to hear her.

“Oh that’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about. I’m pretty sure she’s still sitting in her car, and I don’t know exactly how early she got here because my mom just dropped me off.” Will began 

“Wait why didn’t you just ride in with Carm?” Laura was confused

Wills hand rose to rub the back of his neck as he fidgeted from foot to foot, “Um well…you see.. after you, after you guys left last night Carmilla and our mom sort of got into an argument about that joke Kirsch and I made and Carmilla actually told our mom that she’s uhh a lesbian and mom kinda went berserk and threw her out the house. I tried to calm..”

“WHAT!” Laura screamed, causing more than a few heads to turn their way. “What do you mean she threw her out, where did she go, why didn’t she call me, why didn’t you call me??”

“I don’t know where she went Laura I honestly thought she would have gone straight to you, but I guess not. I tried to calm my mom down and get her to let Carmilla back in but she wouldn’t listen. I know Carmilla doesn’t wanna see me right now she wouldn’t answer my calls yesterday. Will you go talk to her and tell her I’m sorry please.”

Will looked incredibly upset as he looked from Laura to Carmilla’s car at the far end of the parking lot.

Laura nodded and reached out to pat Will on the arm before turning and practically running across the parking lot to Carmilla’s car.

Laura slowed down to a normal walking pace as she neared the passenger side of Carmilla’s car. She knocked once on the window to make sure Carmilla knew she was there, and then she opened the door and climb in.

She could immediately tell that Carmilla had been crying, her eyes were bright red. She didn’t say anything though, just reached over and placed a comforting hand on her friend’s knee. 

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Carmilla sighed and turned her body to fully face Laura. “So, I guess Will told you what happened then”

“Yes, he did. Carm why didn’t you call me last night? You know I would’ve been there for you right?”  
“I know cupcake, I just needed some time alone.”

“Okay I can sort of understand that, but where did you go?”

“I just drove around town until I noticed it was time for school, so I made my way over here, although it might be difficult to do my work without my backpack. Good thing I’m always a lazy student huh?” Carmilla tries to joke with a weak smile.

“Wait you don’t even have your stuff?” Laura asked indignantly. 

Carmilla just shook her head no.

“What the hell she kicked you out and didn’t even let you grab your things! That’s awful Carm I’m so sorry this happened.”

“It’s not your fault cupcake, I knew my mom wouldn’t be okay with me coming out.” Carmilla replied quietly.

“Which is ridiculous, but not the main problem right now. I’ve already texted my dad that you’re not feeling well, he’s expecting you at our house soon, so drive over there and get some rest because you’ve been out all night.”

Carmilla tried to object but Laura cut her off, “No, no arguments Carm go. I’ll handle things here and get your absence excused. Just please go to my room lay down on my favourite yellow pillow and relax, you’ve been through a lot.”

“Okay Laura, thank you.” Carmilla doesn’t look at Laura as she says this, and Laura launches across the car to give her a hug.

“You didn’t do anything wrong, You’re mom’s a bi..bad person, and you don’t deserve this, but I will be with you through it all I promise.”

Carmilla sniffs loudly trying to hold back her tears as she returns the hug.

 

XXXXX

 

Laura watches Carmilla’s car pull out of the parking lot then turns on her heel and marches straight to where Laf and Perry are standing with Kirsch and Will. Will perks up as he sees Laura silently asking how his sister is doing. Laura nods her head subtly before turning and addressing Kirsch.

“Kirsch can I borrow your truck?”

“Uhh, sure little hottie but can you drive it?” He asks

“Probably” Laura says and Kirsch shrugs before handing over his keys.

“Wait, what do you need the truck for frosh?” Laf asks

Laura glances at Will quickly before making a decision, “Carmilla’s mom kicked her out for being gay but didn’t let her grab her things. So I’m going to go and pick up her stuff while her mom’s at work.”

“I’ll help lets go” Laf responds without hesitation and Kirsch immediately agrees as well. Perry looks a little less enthusiastic but she nods her head in agreement as well.

“Will, I’m not going to ask you to help, I don’t want you in trouble with your mom as well, but can I borrow your house keys.” Will just nods and hands them over.

“Make sure she’s okay, and tell her again I’m so sorry I couldn’t stop our mom.”

“I’m sure she doesn’t blame you honey” Perry responds and Will nods sadly before the four of them walk away in the direction of Kirsch’s truck.

 

XXXXX

 

They pulled up to Carmilla’s house and wasted no time getting in and heading for her bedroom. Once there Laura took charge, “Kirsch go to the kitchen and grab some trash bags, Laf grab the suitcases from her closet. I’ll get her clothes in the suitcases you guys get her books and stuff in the bags.” The other three nodded and set off to work.

It didn’t take long at all, with Perry and Laura packing while Laf and Kirsch made trips to the truck. Laura tore through the room grabbing everything she could, only pausing for a second when she opened Carmilla’s underwear drawer. She blushed profusely as she grabbed them and hurriedly stuffed them into a suitcase, and then continued on. 

They had the room packed into Kirsch’s truck in a little over an hour. Laura did one final sweep of the room and was about to walk out when she noticed Carmilla’s leather jacket on the nightstand next to her bed. Carmilla loved that jacket more than any other item of clothing, it’d be awful if they forgot that. She leant over and grabbed the jacket, knocking a picture frame over that had been underneath it. 

As she picked up the picture frame she realized it was a picture of herself and Carmilla. She didn’t know when it had been taken, she had never seen it before, although they normally hung out at Laura’s house not Carmilla’s so it wasn’t a huge surprise, but Laura was still touched to see that the only real decoration Carmilla had in the room was a picture of the two of them. She tucked the picture under her arm and made her way out of the house.

 

XXXXX

 

As Kirsch pulled his truck into Laura’s driveway next to Carmilla’s car Laura suddenly realized she never actually told her dad what was going on. 

“Hey guys will you just wait here a sec I’m going to go check on Carm and then we can unload this stuff” They all nodded and Laura hopped out of the truck, dialing her father as she walked into her house.

“Sweetie what’s wrong? Shouldn’t you be in class right now?” Is how Laura’s dad picks up the phone.

Laura sighs, “I’m fine dad, but Carmilla isn’t.” She paused for a second but her dad didn’t say anything waiting for her to explain.

“Kirsch made a stupid comment last night about Carmilla and I dating in front of Carm’s mom, who as you know is an evil woman” 

Laura’s dad made a noncommittal noise, but Laura knew he agrees and is just too polite to say it.

“Anyway, turns out she is also super homophobic and she kicked her out. She threw her own daughter out of the house without any of her belongings or any money or anything dad! How could she do that!?”

Laura realized she was getting worked up and tried to take a deep breath.

“Oh honey, is Carmilla alright, where is she?” The concern in her dad’s voice made Laura feel so proud and grateful to have him as a parent.

“Yeah about that, don’t be mad, but I kinda ditched school with Laf and Kirsch and went over to Carm’s house and packed up her stuff and told her she could stay with us…. Cause you’re such a nice guy and she needs a good parental figure in her life.”

Laura rushed it all out hoping he wouldn’t be too mad.

“We’re going to have a chat later about skipping school young lady”

“Dad seriously!”

Before Laura could finish her dad cut her off, “But I’m glad you want to be there for Carmilla and she is more than welcome to stay with us until her mom comes to her senses. I will call the school so you and Carmilla have excused absences for the day, but this better not happen again young lady.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you. You’re the best dad in the whole wide world” Laura was all but jumping for joy in the middle of her living room.

Sherman chuckled down the line, “Okay sweetie I’ve got to get back to work, I guess you better set up the guest room for Carmilla.”

“Okay dad, thanks again, love you.”

“I love you too Laura, oh and we are also going to have to talk about you not telling me you were dating Carmilla once I get home tonight.” 

The line went dead before Laura could even register what her dad had said. She stared at the phone for a few seconds trying to process before she shook her head and made her way down the hallway to her bedroom.

Carmilla was asleep on the bed when she walked in, so she closed the door as quietly as she could and walked back out onto the driveway.

Kirsch had already pulled most of the stuff out of the bed of the truck when she got there, Laf and Perry were organizing it into piles.

“Hey thanks guys.” Laura smiled, “Carm is asleep in my room so let’s just move this stuff into the living room as quietly as we can, and I’ll move it later once she wakes up.”

“Sure thing L” Laf responds as they all grab Carmilla’s things. With the four of them it only takes a few minutes to get everything inside and soon their back out on the driveway.

“Thank you, guys, so much for helping me, I know Carm will appreciate it to.”

“You’re welcome Laura dear, just be careful moving that stuff the rest of the way.” Perry says looking worried.

“She’ll be fine Per, come on we’ve got homework to do.” Laf nods at Laura before helping Perry into Kirsch’s truck.

“I’m glad we could help little hottie, I’m gonna check up on Will after I take them back home.” Kirsch is avoiding eye contact as he speaks to Laura, focusing on his shoes instead.

Laura loudly clears her throat to make him look up, “Kirsch I know you feel bad for what happened, but this isn’t your fault. Your joke didn’t do anything, Carmilla decided to tell her mom the truth, for whatever reason, but this isn’t on you okay? I’m really glad you were here today and Carm would say the same if she was awake.”

Kirsch smiled bashfully before giving Laura a tight hug and then climbing into his truck.

Laura waved as they pulled off the driveway and then made her way back inside. 

 

Carmilla was standing in the middle of the living room, surrounded by all of her belongings, when Laura walked back in.

“Laura, what did you do?” Carmilla asked

“I got your stuff Carm, she can’t through you out with nothing. And before you say anything I already cleared it with my dad, you’re staying here with us, end of discussion.” Laura huffed and tried to look as serious as she could, staring down Carmilla.

Carmilla stood stock still, processing everything Laura had done. A small smile cracked onto her face as she noticed Laura’s face steadily getting redder as she tried to hold her ‘intimidating’ stance.

“Well I guess I better say thanks before your head explodes huh.” Carmilla is smiling fully now as Laura goes red for an entirely different reason.

Laura made her way over to Carmilla and pulled her into a hug. “You don’t need to thank me Carm, you don’t deserve what happened to you and we will fix it I promise.”

Carmilla sighed, “I appreciate it cutie, but I don’t think you can fix this one. My mom isn’t going to listen.”

“Well we’re still going to try, but for now since you’re awake you can help move all your stuff into your new room.” Laura clapped her hands excitedly.

Carmilla groaned, but she couldn’t hide the small grin on her face watching her best friend bounce around the living room trying to decide what to grab first. 

 

Xxxxxxx

 

Sherman Hollis opened the front door to his house a little after 9 pm, he had a pizza box in one hand and a look of concentration on his face as he tried to pull his keys out and shut the door without dropping anything. 

He was expecting to find his daughter on the living room couch staring intently at the TV as usual, so he was surprised to find a quiet house with the TV off and no Laura in sight.

He sat the pizza down on the kitchen countertop and made his way down the hallway to Laura’s bedroom which was also empty. He was about to panic when he remembered the reason he’d bought a larger pizza than normal, Carmilla was here. He walked a few more steps down the hall to the guest bedroom and peered in through the partially open door. There was his daughter passed out on top of the freshly made bed, and next to her using her shoulder as a pillow was a mass of black curls belonging to one Carmilla Karnstein. 

He began to slowly back out of the room when Laura’s eyes opened and glanced over at him.

“Hey honey, I brought pizza home for dinner if you guys feel up to eating. If not I’ll just put it in the fridge.” He spoke softly trying not to disturb Carmilla.

Laura sent her dad a smile, “Thanks dad, I don’t think she’s going to wake up anytime soon. This stuff with her mom took a lot out of her.” Laura kept glancing softly over at the sleeping girl as she addressed her father.

Sherman nodded softly, “That’s fine. I’ll check on you guys in the morning before I go to work. Do you need a ride to school tomorrow?”

“I’m sure Carmilla can drive she has her car here.”

Sherman nodded and turned to walk down the hall.

“Dad” Laura called Softly. Sherman stopped and turned back to Laura

“Thanks for letting Carm stay here it means a lot to me, and I know she’d never admit it, but it means a lot to her too”

 

XXXXXXX

Carmilla took a deep breath as she reached out to grab the door handle on her car. Laura’s hand came over from the passenger seat and softly caressed her knee. 

“It’s gonna be fine Carm, no one knows what happened except our friends.”   
Carmilla nodded and sent Laura a soft smile, before opening her door and stepping out of the car.

Laura opened her own door and then hurried over to join Carmilla in front of the car before they made their way into the school’s courtyard.

They spotted Kirsch talking animatedly in the middle of three gingers. They made their way over to the group and everyone acknowledged their presence with small waves or smiles. 

Laura said hi to everyone while Carmilla stood silently next to her. They all knew better than to try and talk to Carmilla when she was in a bad mood, so they turned back to Kirsch and he continued on with his story. 

Laura grabbed Carmilla’s hand and gave it a squeeze, getting the other girls attention. Laura raised her eyebrows in a silent question and Carmilla softly shook her head indicating that she was in fact alright.

Laura smiled and then tuned into the end of Kirsch’s story, her hand staying firmly latched with Carmilla’s.

When the bell rang they all went their separate ways to their first period. Laf and Danny had chemistry, Kirsch and Perry had Math, and Carmilla and Laura had English. 

As Lafontaine sat down at a lab bench Danny leaned over to them, “Hey what was up with Morticia this morning, did I miss something when I was out sick yesterday?”

“Actually yeah you did, it’s not really my place to say anything though, try asking Laura, just not in front of Carmilla okay.”

“What afraid I’ll hurt the vampire’s feelings” Danny snorted

Laf shook their head slightly, “No I mean it Danny, this one’s actually serious.”

Danny looked them in the eye before nodding and turning her attention to the teacher who had just entered the room.

 

XXXXXX  
Danny and Laura were sitting together at their normal lunch table. Danny was in the middle of a story about her evil Spanish teacher that for some reason thinks Kirsch is an amazing student, when she realized Laura’s attention was no longer on her. 

Before she could ask Laura what she was staring at Carmilla appeared at the table. Laura all but shot up out of her seat to greet Carmilla and motion for her to take a seat next to her.

Carmilla quietly greeted Laura and took a seat without acknowledging Danny’s presence. Not that Danny was expecting Carmilla to talk to her, they weren’t the closest friends to begin with, but she normally had a sarcastic quip or stupid nickname. When Laura pulled out two sandwiches from her bag and passed one to Carmilla Danny was really confused, Carmilla always bought lunch and why was Laura carrying the other girls lunch. 

Lafontaine and Perry sat down at the table and Laf immediately began telling a story about their last class and Danny was distracted from staring at the two shorter girls at the other side of the table.

A few minutes later Danny noticed the cafeteria was suddenly a lot quieter than it had been a moment ago. Danny scanned around the room until she noticed the reason for the hushed tones, the principal Mrs. Tullos had walked into the cafeteria and she seemed to be making her way towards their table.

She walked up right behind Laura and Carmilla who had been in their own little world and hadn’t noticed anything going on around them until Mrs. Tullos placed a hand on each of their shoulders. 

They both turned in surprise and looked up into the face of Mrs. Tullos who was wearing an expression that seemed almost like guilt or maybe sorrow to Danny.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your lunch girls, I just wanted to come over here and let you know that the staff are here to help. I know things must be tough for you right now Carmilla, so if you need anything at all please don’t hesitate to come and visit me.” 

Carmilla nodded slightly and looked down in embarrassment. Laura spoke up instead, “Thanks Mrs. Tullos”

Mrs. Tullos smiled over at Laura, “I’m glad your dad informed me of the situation Laura, your absences from yesterday have already been excused.”

Laura thanked her again placing her hand over Carmilla’s on the table, noticing the girls discomfort. Mrs. Tullos turned to leave with one last sad smile directed at Carmilla. Before she took a step, she turned back to the table “I mean it girls, anything you need from me don’t hesitate to ask. I think you two are very good together and I won’t stand for any prejudice towards your or any other relationship in my school.” With that said she turned and walked away, failing to notice the stunned look on the faces of every single person at the lunch table.

Danny was the first person to recover from her shock, she looked at Laura whose face was bright red and Carmilla who was in a staring contest with the floor, and then at their hands still intertwined on the table.

“You guys are together! Why the hell did the principal find out before I did??” Danny all but yelled across the table.

Carmilla didn’t even flinch, continuing to stare a hole into the ground, but Laura somehow got even redder as she faced Danny. “No it’s not what you think…. I mean it’s just a weird misunderstanding….. My dad he called” Laura was spluttering trying to come up with an explanation, but she was cut off by Danny.

“You’re trying to blame this on your dad, seriously Hollis. I’d expect the secrecy from Morticia over there but not you, I thought we were friends.” 

“Hey don’t talk about Carm like that, you don’t know the whole story.” 

“And whose fault is that” Danny fired back.

Before Laura could respond she felt a tug on her hand and she looked over, finally registering just how uncomfortable Carmilla was with the conversation, and glancing around she saw most of the cafeteria was glancing their way.

“Look I’m sorry, it’s not what you think but this isn’t the time or place to have this discussion.” Laura shot a pleading look at Laf and Perry silently begging them to explain things to Danny before she led Carmilla out of the cafeteria. 

Xxxxxxxxx

She lead Carmilla to a quiet corner of the library that was mostly cut off from the rest of the library so there was very little chance of someone disturbing them.

They both take a seat and Laura resigns herself to wait until Carmilla is ready to speak.

It takes almost fifteen minutes before Carmilla looks up into Laura’s eyes that hadn’t left her the entire time.

“I’m sorry I got you into this mess.” She croaks out softly

“Got me into this mess, what are you talking about Carm? If anyone should be apologizing its me.”

“No, all you did was invite me into your home because my mom is a bitch, and now people think were dating and the ginger giant is mad at you and she was talking so loud the whole school probably heard.”

“No it actually is my fault. I’m pretty sure my dad is the one who told Principal Tullos we are dating. He called her yesterday to explain why we were absent after I called him and he misunderstood what I said and thought we were dating and I didn’t correct him before he hung up and now my stupid self has brought all this attention on your situation when I know you didn’t want anyone else to know and now the whole school thinks we’re together. So I’m sorry, and Danny will get over it, or she won’t I honestly couldn’t care less about her right now.”

Once her rant was over Carmilla cracked a slight smile. “What?” Laura asked beginning to smile herself.

“Nothing, you’re just cute when you get all flustered. But I meant what I said, you still have nothing to apologize for. The thing with your dad was an innocent mix-up while you were busy being a good friend. I’m not thrilled people know what happened with my mom, but it was bound to get out eventually.” She shrugged

“Are you sure I still feel bad, you had enough on your plate and now you’ll have to deal with the whole school talking about us.” Laura looked like a kicked puppy as she spoke.

Carmilla chuckled again, “Sweetheart you know I don’t give a shit what most of these people think about me. Besides if the gossip going around is that I’m dating Laura Hollis, well that would be the best piece of gossip I’ve ever had connected to my name.” 

Laura smiled at that, “Well I’m still sorry, I promise I’ll fix this.”

“Nothing to fix cupcake.”

 

XXXXXXXXXX

“So, is anyone going to explain what just happened?” Danny looks pointedly at Lafontaine before switching her gaze to Perry.

“I told you earlier Danny, it’s not our story to tell.” Laf says hesitantly 

“Well Laura had a chance to explain but she chose to run off with her girlfriend apparently.” Danny said harshly

Laf sighed, “Alright, look yesterday Laura came up to us before school started all riled up. She demanded Kirsch let her borrow his truck and after she calmed a little she managed to explain that Carmilla’s bitch of a mother kicked her out because she found out she was gay.” 

Danny swore, “Oh man. That explains Principal Tullos’ weird behaviour. So what did Laura want the truck for?”

“Well our lovely senator whose campaign is all about family, kicked her daughter out without letting her get any of her stuff.” Laf spat out 

“So, we went over while she was at work and packed up her things and brought them to Laura’s place.” Perry finished for them.

“Okay, as much as Carmilla annoys me no one deserves that. I’m glad you guys helped her out.” Danny says, “But that still doesn’t explain when Laura and Carmilla started dating, and why they decided not to tell me.” Danny sounded more hurt than angry as she spoke.

“Honestly we didn’t know either” Laf confessed, “I mean I always figured they had a thing for each other, but they’ve never said anything or given any indication that their relationship was anything more than friendship. Maybe this reaction from Carmilla’s mom is why…”

They all stayed quiet after that comment for a few moments before Perry finally spoke up “Well I say we just respect their privacy right now, this can’t be easy, especially for Carmilla so we should just be supportive friends and not harass them.”

Laf agreed immediately and after a second Danny nodded her head in assent as well, “Someone just needs to tell that bone head Kirsch to keep his mouth shut.”

 

XXXXXXXXX

 

The bell rang and Laura made her way out of the classroom she had been sitting in, not having registered a single word her teacher said. She made it to Carmilla’s locker in a few seconds and waited as they had the same class for the last period of the day.

She had seen Laf and Perry right after lunch and they thankfully had not brought up what had happened earlier and instead talked about anything else they could think of. Laura was so grateful she had such amazing friends.

Carmilla appeared and gave her a small smile as she opened her locker and grabbed two textbooks out, handing one to Laura. They Kept books in each other’s lockers because they shared a few classes and it was convenient. 

As they made their way to the last class of the day Laura noticed more than a few people glancing in their direction and whispering to their friends. She tried to ignore it and Carmilla seemed oblivious to it all.

They got to the classroom and made their way to the back of the room where Laf, Perry, Danny, and Kirsch were all sat. This was always Laura’s favourite class even though it was art and she was terrible at it, they had all agreed to take the elective together.

The group of friends were unusually quiet throughout the class, by the time the bell rang to signal the end of the school day Laura was more than relieved. She had almost made it out the door, Carmilla right next to her, when Danny called her name.

She stopped and turned to Danny who was waving her over, then she turned back to Carmilla.

“Go ahead and see what the beanstalk wants cupcake I’ll meet you at my car.”   
Laura nodded and Carmilla continued out of the room while Laura walked back to Danny.

“Look I’m sorry I ran out of the cafeteria without explaining things to you earlier.”

“It’s alright Laura, Laf and Perry told me what happened with Carmilla. I still wish you had told me sooner, but I understand.”

“I know but to be fair the only times I’ve seen you today I’ve been with Carm and she doesn’t want to talk about it.”

Danny suddenly looks annoyed again. “Wait you think I’m upset because you didn’t tell me about Carmilla’s mom! Seriously?”

Laura looks taken aback, “Well what else would you be mad about?”

“How about the fact that you’re dating her, I knew you had a thing for her, but you always denied it. Tell me the truth is she the reason you said no when I asked you to be my date to prom?”

“Are you serious right now Danny? I didn’t ‘tell you’ because we aren’t dating. I didn’t think my own friends would believe that rumor, but I guess I was wrong.”

“Rumor sure, you still haven’t answered my question Hollis. Is she the reason you turned me down?”

Laura glared at Danny before turning and storming out of the classroom. 

 

She doesn’t slow down her angry march until she’s throwing open the door to Carmilla’s car.

“Hey slow down there, what’s going on?” Carmilla asked startled by the girl’s abrupt entrance into the car.

“Danny wanted to talk because she is mad I didn’t tell her that were dating. She thinks that’s the reason I said no when she asked me to prom, and she didn’t believe me when I tried to explain that we aren’t.” She huffs out all in one angry breath

“What, Clifford asked you to prom? Why am I just now hearing about this?” Carmilla asks

“Carm, not really the point of that story.”

“Right sorry, look let’s just get you home have a nice relaxing weekend and then on Monday we can clear up all the rumors okay. It’s not a big deal, and if Clifford keeps being an ass about it I’ll put a muzzle on her.” Carmilla sends her a grin and Laura snorts out a laugh.

“Be nice Carm, I know I’m overreacting but I at thought our friends wouldn’t believe this lie or would at least listen when I said it wasn’t true.” 

Carmilla shoots her a reassuring smile as she pulls her car out of the parking spot and heads toward Laura’s house.

 

XXXXXX

 

After watching TV for a few hours and eating the pizza Sherman had brought home the night before Laura was feeling a lot better about everything.

Carmilla was next to her on the couch fiddling with her phone when Laura glanced over. 

“Sorry I freaked out a bit earlier. You are right there’s nothing to worry about, we can set the record straight on Monday and go back to worrying about how to get revenge on your mother.”

Carmilla looks up from her phone, “Well um I think I know how to get my mother back, but you’re not going to like it.”

“Oh really how?” Laura asks intrigued.  
“Remember Mattie?”

“Your older step-sister that went away to law school after your dad died. You haven’t talked about her since middle school” Laura said.

“Yeah that’s the one, I haven’t talked about her because I haven’t seen her. You know my mother never liked her and since she’s not technically her daughter she had no control over her after my dad died.”

“Okay that makes sense, but what’s she got to do with anything now?”

“She just sent me a message, she’s coming back to town and she wants to take my mother’s seat in the senate.” 

“Wait what? How is she planning on doing that your mom has ran unopposed for as long as I can remember.”

“That’s because my mom has a way of intimidating people off the ballot. But Mattie apparently has a plan to take her down.”

“Okay, still not seeing the part that’s relevant to us.”

“Mattie wants to use our relationship as the poster for her campaign, to undermine mother’s fake family values bullshit.”

“You mean the relationship that we don’t actually have?” Laura asked

“Yep”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carmilla and Laura meet with Mattie and have to decide if it's going to be worth it to fake a relationship for the sake of her campaign.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who's liking and commenting on the story so far. This chapter is a bit more set up and starting with chapter 3 we'll be getting into the really good stuff.

“Wait what? I must be confused, how does us being in a relationship help Mattie take your moms senate seat?” Laura and Carmilla were sitting on the couch facing each other, the television playing in the background was long forgotten.

“I’m not sure, I don’t even know how Mattie found out about this but she’s coming into town on Sunday and she wants to meet so I guess we’ll figure it out then.”

Laura sighs and drops her head onto Carmilla’s shoulder, “I guess we’ll just hang out here and keep a low profile until then huh?”

Carmilla nods slightly and carefully adjusts herself so that they’re both facing the TV again.

They make it through another 20 mins of the show and then Sherman Hollis walks in the door.

“Hey girls how was school?” He calls out as he walks into the kitchen 

They both glance at each other before Laura speaks up “It was fine dad, how was work today?”

“Oh you know same old stuff” Sherman walked into the living room and sat down in the armchair.

“So do you girls have plans for the weekend?”

“Um Carm’s half-sister Mattie is coming into town and wants to get lunch on Sunday, but that’s about it.” Laura answered for them both while Carmilla did her best to not draw any attention to herself.

“Well I have a bunch of boring work to catch up on around the house tomorrow but what do you say I make us all dinner tomorrow night?” 

“Sounds great dad thanks.” Sherman nods and shoots a quick glance over at Carmilla, she isn’t the most talkative person in the world but he’s never seen her completely silent before, then he stands up and heads down the hallway toward his office. 

 

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Laura and Carmilla walk into the restaurant scanning around the room until Carmilla spots Mattie at a corner table and drags Laura over to it by the hand.

“Well if it isn’t the little monster and her tiny side kick” Mattie says in greeting with a small smirk on her face.

Laura huffs at being called tiny while Carmilla glares at Mattie for a few seconds before it cracks, and a smile comes across her face.

“Hey Mattie, long time no see” Carmilla greets as she pulls out a chair for Laura to take a seat, taking the chair next to her for herself. 

“So it has, and it seems I’ve missed a lot in your life darling little sister” Mattie’s eyes lingered on the edge of the table where just out of sight Carmilla had a steadying hand on Laura’s knee.

“Oh if only they had invented a machine that would have allowed you to talk to me even from a different state.” Carmilla said, voice dripping with sarcasm

“Phones work both ways, and I don’t recall you trying to call me either.” Mattie responded, not missing a beat.

Carmilla sighed and leaned forward across the table, “Fine neither one of us is good at staying in touch, so why are you here now then?”

“Like I’ve said already, it’s time for your mother to get taken down and I believe we finally have a decent chance at it.”

“You really think you can beat her in an election Mattie, she has most of this state in her pocket” 

“She does, but you know as well as I do she hasn’t been very ethical since she became a senator and my team has dug up enough stuff on her, and now with you two it’s time to take it public and sway the average voter.”

Laura speaks up for the first time, “I want Carm’s mom to be held accountable just as much as you guys, but I don’t understand what we’re supposed to do to help.”

Mattie eyes Laura up and down for a little too long before responding, “Lilita’s always run her campaigns around the idea that she’s a normal woman from the community, who values families over big businesses. Having her daughter that she threw out of her own house and her loving girlfriend publicly supporting her opposition will do a lot to damage her image.”

“That makes sense, but there’s a bit of a problem..” Carmilla stops as a waiter appears with food that she doesn’t remember ordering.

“I ordered before you guys arrived hope you don’t mind” Mattie explains after noticing the surprise on Laura and Carmilla’s faces.

Once the waiter has finished placing the food on the table and walked back to the kitchen Carmilla continues, “So there is one small problem your plan to take down my dearest mother”  
“And what would that be” Mattie drawls, seeming almost bored with the discussion.

“Laura and I aren’t actually dating” Mattie raises an eyebrow, but she doesn’t respond.

Hating the uncomfortable silence that has taken over the table, Laura beings to speak.  
“It’s a weird story actually, my dad got confused when I asked him if Carm could stay with us after her mom kicked her out and I guess he assumed we were dating and then he must’ve told the principal at school what happened when he called to excuses our absences for the day and now everyone at school knows and…” 

Mattie cuts her off by raising her hand, “slow down there gidget, I don’t need your whole life story”

“Hey don’t talk to her like that” Carmilla cuts in

Mattie sighs again, “Okay look, I’ll admit this is a bit disappointing to hear but there is an obvious solution to the problem.”

“Oh and what would that be?” Carmilla asks

“Everyone in this blasted town thinks you guys are together, so let’s continue to let them think that.”

“You want us to lie, to everyone?!” Laura squeaks out, “Like all our friends, and my dad, oh god my dad..”

“Why don’t you just run your campaign without us Mattie? I’ll still help and tell everyone she threw me out if that’s what I have to do.” Carmilla interrupts, once again placing a calming hand on Laura’s knee.

“No Carm, you don’t need to talk to the whole world about what your mom did. I know you don’t like talking about it.”

“It’s fine cupcake, better that then you half a panic attack while trying to lie to your father.”

“If I could just cut in here” Mattie starts, drawing back the attention of the two girls who had all but forgotten she was there. “I’m afraid the campaign wont work without you both”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t run” Carmilla snaps

“I’ve already entered into the election” Mattie says, “This is our best shot and getting back at her Milla, you aren’t the only one she’s kicked out remember.”

“I know, I remember the way she treated you even before our father died, but you can’t expect Laura to do this.” Carmilla says in a much softer tone

“No Carm its alright” It’s Laura’s turn to grab Carmilla’s hand, “Your mother is a raging bad person and if this is what it’ll take to give her what she deserves, well then I’m willing to do it.”

“No Laura, I can’t ask you to..”

“You’re not asking me Carm, I’m telling you, I want to do this.” Laura smiles at Carmilla for a second, and then the smile suddenly drops from her face  
“Unless you don’t want to, God of course you don’t want to put your personal life out there for everyone to see, and you don’t want the literally everyone we know thinking were together, I’m sorry I should’ve”

“Cupcake stop” Carmilla was about to resort to covering Laura’s mouth with her hand to calm the girl down. “I’ve told you already, being linked with you could only help my reputation.” She smiles softly over at Laura who mirrors the smile, staring into the other girls eyes to make sure she was serious.

“Great” Mattie claps her hands together, startling the other two girls out of their staring match “It’s settled then, as far as everyone is concerned you guys are together and Lilita is going to wish she’d never crossed us.”

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

“So now what?” Laura asks as she unceremoniously flops onto what is now Carmilla’s bed in the guest room of her house.

Carmilla chuckles, “What do you mean cupcake?”

“How are we going to do this, us” Laura gestures wildly between the two of them.

Carmilla chuckles, grabbing her arms and placing them gently at her sides. “We don’t have to ‘do’ anything cupcake. We can just live our lives normally, just maybe get used to holding my hand when were together.”

For a split second it looked to Laura like a light blush ghosted across Carmilla’s cheeks as she finished that sentence, but it was gone instantly so she figured it was just a trick of the light.

“We are going to need a plan Carm, so we don’t get caught.” 

Carmilla sighs and lays down on the bed next to Laura, “We can figure it out tomorrow, its nap time now.” She closes her eyes and refuses to open them, even as Laura proceeds to poke every inch of her face. Eventually Laura gives up trying to annoy her and instead joins her in taking a nap.

 

Two hours later Laura is woken up to the sound of her dad walking in the front door. It takes her a moment to realize where she is and why her pillow feels so warm, when it dawns on her that she had fallen asleep in Carmilla’s room she lifts her head and checks to see if the girl she had been using as a human pillow was awake. Carmilla was still sound asleep so she gently lifted herself off of the sleeping girl, and off the bed completely.

She makes her way into the kitchen where her dad is busy putting away the groceries he had just bought.

“Hey sweetie how’s your day been?” He asks once he notices her presence

“Good just had lunch with Carm’s sister, how was shopping?” 

“Oh, you know thrilling, there was a sale on chicken so I was pretty excited.”

Laura chuckled at her dad’s obvious exaggeration as he took the chicken he had bought out of the bag and fist pumped before putting it in the fridge.

“So where is Carmilla?” Sherman inquired as he put the last of the groceries away.

“She is asleep in the guest room, she had to wake up before noon to meet her sister, so she was pretty tired.”

Sherman laughs and makes his way over to the table, sitting down and pulling out the chair next to him motioning for Laura to come join him.

“Well whilst she is asleep I think it’s time we had a little chat.” Laura takes a seat, turning in the chair to fully face her father.

“What’s up pops”

“You know that Carmilla is always welcome here, and obviously I don’t agree with what her mother did.” Laura nods along, she has a feeling she knows where this conversation is going and she’s starting to feel nervous.

“But, while she is here we’re going to have to make some house rules. As much as I love both of you girls I am not going to let you just do whatever you want, especially because you felt the need to hide this relationship from me in the first place.” He sounds more hurt than angry, and Laura’s heart breaks a little at his tone.

“We weren’t hiding anything dad I swear.” Laura says immediately

“I’m not angry with you sweetie, I’ve known for a while now that there was something different with your friendship with Carmilla and I’m happy for you two. I just don’t understand why you didn’t think you could trust me enough to tell me this.”

“No dad, it’s not that I don’t trust you. We were going to tell you, really, and then all this stuff happened with Carmilla’s mom and it just all happened so fast.”

“I know, and I’m sure this has been very tough on Carmilla, and on you as well so if you girls need anything at all I hope you’ll feel comfortable enough to come and talk to me about it.” Laura was almost in tears, she loved her dad sooo much and she was so greatly she had such a kind and understanding man as her father.

“We will dad I promise, thank you” Sherman leans over and envelops her in a giant hug

He lets go after a few seconds, “Okay well now that that’s settled, house rules.” Laura groans half-heartedly

“No closing of doors whenever you guys are in one of your bedrooms together, your curfew of ten on school nights and midnight on weekends now also applies to Carmilla, and no more secrets.”

“That seems more than reasonable Mr. Hollis” Carmilla says, causing both Laura and her father to jump and turn to face her in the living room.

“Carm, how long have you been standing there?” Laura asks

“Just long enough to hear the house rules, that I will definitely follow. Thank you again Mr. Hollis for letting me stay here.”

“Sure thing kiddo, and you can call me Sherman if you want. No need for formalities when you’re part of the family.”

Carmilla looks stunned for a second and all she can do is nod in agreement.

“Right, that’s all well and good. I’m gonna go do some work in my office and then tonight, I’ll cook some chicken!” he shouts the word chicken enthusiastically and Laura snorts out a laugh while Carmilla just looks a little confused.

 

XXXXXXX

 

They walk into school Monday morning and it feels to Laura like every single person in the school is staring at them. She squeezes Carmilla’s hand a little tighter and Carmilla shoots her a small smile as they make their way over to the area their friends usually hang out at before classes start.

Lafontaine is the only one there and they greet them both with a wave.

“Hey Laf where’s Per and everyone else?”

“Perry is in the library catching up on something and I don’t know about Danny or Kirsch”

Laura nods in acceptance and the three of them stand in an uncomfortable silence for awhile until Laf finally breaks it.

“Okay so I know it’s technically none of my business, but as this groups official truth speaker I just need know what’s up with you two and why didn’t you tell me you were together?”

Carmilla sighs and gestures at Laura to tell them. Laura shoots Carmilla a look asking for permission and Carmilla raises her eyebrow skeptically glancing at Laf before nodding in concession. 

“What was that?” Laf asks noticing the silent conversation

“That was us deciding to tell you the truth, only if you promise not to tell anyone, and I mean anyone Laf” Laura answers. “Especially not Xena or the overgrown puppy” Carmilla adds

Lafontaine seems to hesitate for a moment before they nod their head in agreement, “Okay so Carmilla and I aren’t actually dating, it’s just a rumor that got a bit out of hand.”

“I knew it” Laf exclaims, “Then why all this?” Laf gestures to their still intertwined hands

Laura proceeds to explain the situation with Mattie and Carmilla’s mom, Carmilla filling in when needed.

“Wow, only you two could get yourselves into a situation like this.” Lafontaine laughs

“Ugh tell me about it. But now that you know don’t you agree with me that we need a plan to make our relationship seem believable, Carm here is under the impression we don’t have to do anything but hold hands a little more often” Laura says

“Sorry frosh, but I kind of agree with Carmilla. The reason this story spread so fast and was believed by literally everyone is you two basically acted like a couple before this anyway.”

Carmilla scoffs as Laura squeaks out “We did not.”

Lafontaine laughs, “Just a quick question then, how many times have you had to tell someone that you were not dating in the past two years?”

“A few” Laura mumbles

“What was that I couldn’t hear you” Laf goads

“A few times, but to be fair most of them were from you.” Laura says louder

“True” Laf admits, “But you get my point you guys have been close since you met in middle school, Carmilla has always been whipped by your tiny gay self, so you just gotta keep acting the way you always have, maybe just a little more intense but you’ll definitely be a believable couple.”

Carmilla’s face went from smug at Laf agreeing with her to glaring at them for the whipped comment.

“Well we’ll just have to see, I still think we should have a plan just in case Carm.”

“Okay creampuff draw out a plan, just don’t get too crazy this is only for a little while until the election is over.”

Laf makes a whip sound and Carmilla immediately flicks them off

“When is the election anyway” Laura says ignoring their interaction

“In four months” Laf supplies

“What!?” Carmilla and Laura both say in unison

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think here or on tumblr :the-sarcastic-skeleton  
> Also the story is not beta'd so let me know if there are any mistakes and I'll fix them.


	3. Chapter 3

“Okay so four months, it’s a bit longer than I thought it would be, but it doesn’t change anything. I’ll just make the plan a bit longer, we can do this” Laura was pacing back and forth in the library during her free period.

“Cupcake calm down” Carmilla says lifting her head from the table where it had been resting as Laura paced back and forth for the last ten minutes.

“I’m clam Carm I swear, I just don’t like not knowing what we’re doing.” 

Carmilla kicks out the chair across from her and motions for Laura to take a seat. Laura does and immediately reaches across the table and laces her fingers with Carmilla’s.

“Okay cupcake, what do you want to do. Make a plan and I promise I’ll do my best to follow it, I don’t want any of this to make you uncomfortable.”

“Thanks Carm, I know you’re not doing this just for me, I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable either.” Carmilla goes to speak and Laura doesn’t seem to notice as she keeps talking

“Really I just don’t want to do anything that will make things weird between us. You’re my best friend Carm and I don’t want to lose you”

“That won’t happen Laura, nothing you do could scare me away. Let’s just agree that if anything gets to be too much for one of us we will talk about it, and if you ever feel uncomfortable or weird just say the word and we’ll stop this whole thing. Mattie can lose and never talk to me again for all I care.”

“Deal. Speaking of Mattie, what exactly does she expect from us? Are we going to have to go to her speeches and debates and stuff?” Laura asks, trying to change the topic quickly. She’s always been the open and soft one in their friendship. Carmilla is a lot more open with her than she is with everyone else in her life, and Laura takes pride in that, but it still throws her off when Carmilla is so vulnerable with her.

Carmilla chuckles, “I honestly don’t know cutie, I’m sure she’ll let us know soon. She always has everything planned out, it something you guys seem to have in common.” She winks at Laura, smirking when she sees a blush creeping up her neck, before standing and holding her hand out to Laura to take as they made their way out of the library as the bell rang.

 

XXXXXXX

The next few days went by without incident and Laura began to slowly relax about the whole situation.

“Maybe I’m a better actor than I thought” She said to Laf who was sitting next to her in their economics class. 

“To be fair you haven’t really done anything other than hold her hand a bit more than usual” Laf said, only half paying attention as they tried to finish their work.

“Yeah and it is working, no one has questioned us or anything.”

“Frosh its high school no one cares, relationships begin and end constantly. I will give you credit though” Laf begins focusing solely on Laura now that their work is complete “You are doing a great job of holding yourself back.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Laura asks, her work lay on her desk forgotten

“We both know you’ve had a thing for Carmilla forever, I’m just surprised you’re taking this fake girlfriend thing so well considering”

“I have not” Laura cuts them off “We’ve always just been good friends”

“I’m not saying you haven’t, I’m just saying you have wanted more and I bet you won’t be able to keep it together for the next four months.”

Before Laura can respond their teacher clears his throat at the front of the room and shoots them both a pointed look. Laura immediately turns back to her work, red faced at being reprimanded. 

xxx

When Carmilla walks into the cafeteria she isn’t surprised to see Laura already there, she is surprised to see what looks to be an argument of some sort between Laura and Clifford. She considers going over and making sure everything is alright, but Laura looks to be handling herself just fine, if she needs help then Carmilla will be there first, but until then she decides to get in line to buy some food.

As she waits in line she keeps glancing over to make sure Laura is alright, at one point she happens to catch Laura’s eye and she raises an eyebrow in a question. Laura subtly shakes her head to let her know she doesn’t need any help before turning back to Danny.

By the time Carmilla has her food and makes her way to the table things seem to have calmed down. She takes the seat next to Laura and Laura leans over and places a kiss on her cheek.

“Hey babe how was class” Before Carmilla responds Danny huffs loudly and makes a show of standing up and walking to another table.

“What was that all about?” Carmilla asks

“Danny just had some opinions about my life and I told her I didn’t want to hear them.”

Carmilla assumes there’s a little more to the story but she lets it go, if Laura wants to tell her she will.

“Well since you asked, my classes this morning were very boring how were yours babe?” Carmilla draws out the word and Laura blushes

“Mine were good, although I got caught talking to Laf in econ and Mr. W glared at me.”

“Oh no, not a glare. Are you okay do you need me to take you to the nurse?” Laura giggles at Carmilla’s antics, laying her head on Carmilla’s shoulder as she tries to stop. She feels Carmilla tense and she picks her head up and notices SJ and Natalie walking up to them.

“Hey Laura, Carmilla how are you guys?” SJ asks as she takes a seat across from them

“We’re good, how’re you?” Laura says

“Good, thanks” SJ says, the table lapses into an uncomfortable silence as Laura and Carmilla wait for Natalie and SJ to say whatever it is that brought them over.

“So we don’t mean to intrude or anything” SJ says after a moment

“Oh good, so you’ll be going then” Carmilla responds on a monotone voice

SJ ignores her she’s spent enough time around Carmilla because of her boyfriend Kirsch, she knows by now not to take what she says personally.

“We just wanted to tell you guys we think you’re really cute together, and I’m sorry your mom has been such an asshole about it Carmilla.”

Natalie nods in agreement, “Yeah I told my parents not to vote for her” 

“Oh uh thanks” Laura says looking a bit surprised

SJ smiles pleased with herself before nudging Natalie and they both get up and walk away.

 

XXXXXXX

Laura aimlessly walked around her house, looking for something, anything to hold her attention. Mattie had asked Carmilla to go and meet her and had explicitly stated that Laura was not invited.  
She knows Carmilla can handle herself, so while she would’ve liked to have gone to make sure Carmilla was alright, she knows her presence isn’t necessary.  
Right now, she’s honestly more worried about herself than she is about Carmilla. It’s only been about a week since Carmilla moved in and she has already gotten so used to the other girls’ presence that she isn’t sure what to do with herself now that she’s alone. She tried watching TV but she couldn’t find a comfortable position on the couch, she’d even tried to get some homework done she was that bored.

She keeps hearing Lafontaine’s words from earlier repeating in her head, ‘you won’t be able to keep it together for four months’  
She would never admit it to anyone, especially not Laf, but they’re right. She has had a bit of a crush on Carmilla since she’s known that she wasn’t straight. While she has been all too aware of her own feelings she has also been aware of the fact that she’s seen Carmilla around a girl she is interested in and it is not the way Carmilla acts around her.

She used to get her hopes up every time someone mistook them for a couple or asked if they were dating, but now it’s just a painful reminder that she still hasn’t managed to completely get over this crush.

Maybe this fake dating thing will help her get Carmilla out of her system, but she isn’t doing it for that, and she isn’t doing it to spite Lilita, she is doing it to help her best friend. Her dad always said she was too nice for her own good, so it’s not really a surprise that she is willing to go through a fake relationship with the only person she’s wanted a real relationship with. 

She didn’t realize how long she’d been aimlessly wondering, lost in her thoughts until she heard the front door slam shut and Carmilla walked into the living room.

“Hey cupcake”

“Hey Carm, how was Mattie?”

“Good, she wants us to be at her press conference this weekend where she is officially announcing her candidacy.” Carmilla flopped down on the couch as she spoke, turning the TV on.

Laura sat down next to her, the couch suddenly seemed a lot more comfortable than it had an hour ago.  
“I thought she already entered the race”

“She has, she filled the paperwork and stuff but apparently she needs to formerly announce it to the public or whatever.” Carmilla shrugs as she tries to explain

“Okay then, I guess we have plans for this weekend after all.”

“Are you sure about this Laura, if we go this weekend there’s no backing out.”

“It’s fine Carm, I told you I was okay helping and I meant it. Hope you don’t get sick of me cause you’re stuck with me for the next four months.” She flashed Carmilla cheesy grin before turning back to the TV

“That won’t be an issue” Carmilla mumbles

 

XXXXXX

 

They pulled up to the area where Mattie was supposed to be giving her press conference in a few hours. They hadn’t said much on the drive over, Laura because she was maybe feeling a bit more nervous than she had expected, and Carmilla because it was only 9 am and she wasn’t fully awake yet.

They walked into the building that would be Mattie’s campaign headquarters and were immediately overwhelmed.

A young man in a badly wrinkled suit was running across the room, clipboard in one hand while the other was pressed against the earpiece in his ear as he presumably was being given instructions. Two young women were walking around with more Starbucks coffee cups then they realistically should have been able to carry, depositing one at each desk in the giant room. Sitting at each desk were men and women of various ages and backgrounds, some were furiously typing while others were talking on the phone and gesturing wildly with their hands. A large printer in the corner was beeping loudly and the man whose desk was closest to it was complaining about the noise instead of doing anything about it. 

“God don’t they know what time it is? How are this many people awake and fully functioning?” Carmilla grumbles

Laura giggles at her grumpiness but before she can respond someone is calling their names.

They can hear a shout of “Carmilla! Laura!” over the constant ringing of telephones and beeping of the printer, the guy that was running with a clipboard earlier is now trying to fix the printer. Laura turns and notices a small desk in-front of a large office; a young blonde lady is waving them over with a large smile.

They make their way over to her and Laura notices the name plate on her desk. “Hello Ell, I’m Laura and this is Carmilla.” She introduces herself politely

“Oh I know who you are, I’m Mattie’s assistant she told me to keep an eye out for you two and to send you in once you arrived.” Ell was smiling while she spoke but only looked at Carmilla the entire time.

“Cool, we’ll just head back then” Laura squeaks out staring at Ell with a harsher look than before.

Ell doesn’t seem to notice as she just nods at waves her hand toward the office door behind her, all while trying to make eye contact with Carmilla.

Carmilla doesn’t notice at all, she is too busy trying to block out the noise around her. She does recognize the squeak in Laura’s voice though, it usually means she’s really stressed or angry. She assumes that it’s stress from this weird situation and grabs her hand, pulling her into what she assumes is Mattie’s office. 

“Ah Carmilla, Laura glad you could make it. And on time as well, I’m impressed you must’ve had to drag this one out of bed to get her up at this hour.” Mattie gestures at Carmilla as she speaks to Laura

“It was a bit of a struggle, but nothing I can’t deal with” Laura says shooting Carmilla a shit-eating grin

Carmilla frowns, “Well you can’t really blame me. Your press conference isn’t until noon, why do we have to be here, awake at this ungodly hour.”

Mattie chuckles slightly, “We have a lot of prep work to do, while I won’t be asking either one of you to say anything today you will be standing behind me during the press conference and you need to play your parts correctly.”

“What ehm, what do we need to do” Laura asks, her voice sounded a little shaky at first, but she got it under control.

“Simple my dear, look like two teens very much in love.” Mattie’s smile always seems to have a hint of an evil glint whenever Laura looks at it, but that might just be her nerves messing with her.

“We don’t need to be trained on how to stand behind you holding hands Mattie” Carmilla scoffs

“You need to be told what facial expressions and body language you should be displaying during my speech. People will be looking at you two, you especially Carmilla as you used to be standing behind our opponent.”

“Alright fine, lets get this over with then.”

 

XXXXXXX

They sat with one of Mattie’s campaign managers for almost two hours, being told how to stand and what to do with their hands during different parts of the speech.

They were about five minutes away from the press conference now, there were reporters and news vans filling up the parking lot outside. The people in the building were scrambling to get last minute checks done, Laura on the other hand felt a lot calmer than she had earlier.

While the training was boring and tedious, she had gotten to hear Mattie’s speech and she realized that Mattie had good ideas and plans for their state. Laura agreed to do this at first just to help Carmilla and now she’s realizing that a lot of her uncertainty came from the unknown that was Mattie. Now that she realizes that Mattie is the kind of person that she would want to support even if it wasn’t for Carmilla, she’s feeling more relaxed about this whole thing.

Carmilla is starting to look a bit nervous. Laura has been watching her pace ever since she snapped on the guy that had been teaching them and made him leave. He had been annoying, so it wasn’t out of the blue or out of character for Carmilla, but Laura could tell she was nervous. She had a feeling the nervousness was about her mother, the guy teaching them had mentioned that Lilita would see this press conference right before Carmilla kicked him out.

Laura walked over to her and grabbed her hand, stopping her pacing dead in its tracks.  
“It’s going to be fine Carm, you’ve already done the hard part, you’ve already come out to your mother. I know it didn’t go well but now we know she’s a terrible person and she’s going to get her comeuppance. Let’s just go out there and you try not to look like you want to murder all the stupid reporters and I’ll try not to fangirl over some of my favourite journalists that are out there.”

Carmilla laughed and looked over Laura’s shoulder where they were being called over, the press conference was starting.

“You’re right creampuff, besides who’s going to be looking at me when there’s going to be such a pretty girl standing right next to me.”

Laura still had a slight blush on her face as they walked out onto the little makeshift stage as Mattie began her speech.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading hope you liked the new chapter, and thanks to everyone who has liked and commented so far it means a lot.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who has been reading, leaving kudos and commenting, hope you enjoy the update.

When they walked into school on Monday morning it seemed like every single person in the school, kids and teachers, were staring at them as they walked by.

“I guess they saw the press conference” Laura whispered in Carmilla’s ear as they walked by a group of freshmen girls that were blatantly staring.

Carmilla grimaces, “Great”

They make it over to their group of friends and they could immediately tell their friends had been talking about them with how quiet they all got as the girls approached.

“Hey guys, how was your weekend” Perry asks after an awkward second of silence

“It was alright, how was yours?” Laura responds

“Well our weekend was certainly a lot less boring than yours” Danny cuts in

“Oh saw the press conference huh Clifford” Carmilla says

“Yeah we all did” Danny says in an angry tone

“You two looked lovely on the stage” Perry says, trying to cut the tension between Carmilla and Danny.

“Thanks Perry, it was pretty boring to be honest we just stood there for an hour” Laura was fidgeting uncomfortably while Danny and Carmilla glared at each other.

“What does your mom think about your sister running against her?” Kirsch asks happily, oblivious to the tension around him

Laura winces as Carmilla’s glare shifts from Danny to Kirsch, “Well I wouldn’t know would I, She kicked me out remember?”

“Oh yeah, sorry Carm-sexy I forgot”

Carmilla sighs, “It’s alright puppy, let’s just not talk about my mother or my sister for that matter”

Kirsch nods, “Sure thing, I’m gonna go find Will and see what’s up.” He bounds away and the entire group watches him ungracefully try and squeeze through the mass of students.

After that the tension seems to have been broken and the group has a normal conversation as they wait for the bell to ring and classes to start for the day.

 

XXXXXXX

 

On the car ride home Carmilla noticed that Laura was being unusually quiet. She knew eventually Laura would share what was on her mind, so she resigned herself to waiting, and she might have turned on Laura’s favourite radio station just to see a small smile grace the girls face.

They had just pulled into the driveway of the Hollis home when Laura worked up the courage to ask what had been on her mind all day.

“Have you spoken to Will, or your mother since?” 

Carmilla’s knuckles went white as she gripped the steering wheel with all her strength.  
“I told Will not to blame himself when he came and apologised to me” She said in a flat tone

“That’s good I know he was concerned you would hate him. Has your mom tried to contact you?”

“No, and I don’t think she ever will again, especially not if Mattie wins the election.” Carmilla mumbled the second half of that sentence, avoiding eye contact with Laura

“Well then she’ll miss out on the life of a great person Carm, I didn’t want to upset you I just don’t want that evil witch trying to get inside your head.” 

Carmilla chuckled, “It’s a little too late for that Laura, but I’ll be okay.”

“You don’t have to be strong all the time Carm, It’s okay to be hurt that your Mom sucks, and I know you don’t want the world to see you as weak or whatever but you know you can talk to me about these things right.”

Carmilla nodded and Laura all but launches herself across the car to give her a hug

 

XXXXX

 

Carmilla was genuinely shocked at just how many people at their school seemed to have seen the press conference over the weekend. Even as someone who rarely notices the other people around her, Carmilla has picked up on a lot of people casting glances her way, and it gets ten times worse if she’s standing with Laura.

It was admittedly annoying at first but it’s Friday, it’s been almost a week and the staring has calmed down a little, or she’s just getting better at ignoring everyone. Either way she was beginning to believe that this whole election and fake relationship might not be as bad as she had feared. 

Those hopes were quickly destroyed as she watched Principal Tullos walk over to her with an excited grin. She tried to burrow her head even further behind the book she had been reading while she waited for Laura. Everyone at the school knew better than to bother Carmilla when she was reading, her glare was legendary and she took pride in it, even if she would never admit that out loud.

Mrs. Tullos hadn’t gotten the memo apparently as she walked right up and cleared her throat to alert Carmilla to her presence. 

Carmilla slowly put her book down, carefully earmarking the page she was on before looking up at her principal.

“Hello Carmilla, sorry to interrupt your studies but I have some news. Where is Mrs. Hollis?”

“Laura why? Is everything alright?” Carmilla asks as scenarios begin running through her head, it must be bad if the principal came herself.

“It’s fine dear, I have good news it just involves both of you.”

“Oh” Carmilla’s heartbeat slowly returns to a normal rate “She’s probably at her locker or talking to her friends.”

“Will she be coming here soon?” Mrs. Tullos asks. Now that she knows there’s nothing wrong with Laura Carmilla notices that Mrs. Tullos is almost bouncing with what looks like excitement, whatever this is, it’s going to be annoying.

Carmilla was thankfully saved from having to respond to Mrs. Tullos by Laura walking up behind her.

“Hey Carm I wanna hit the library during free period is that cool with you…..” She trails off as she notices the person standing next to Carmilla is their principal.

“Oh, hello Mrs. Tullos”

“Hello Laura, now that you’re here can you ladies please follow me to my office.” Laura nods nervously and casts a glance to Carmilla who huffed and stood up from the spot where she had been sitting.

They followed behind Mrs. Tullos as she made her way back to the office building.  
“What’s going on Carm?” Laura whispered when she thought the principal was out of earshot.

“I don’t know, she didn’t say anything to me before you got there except that she had news.”

“You haven’t pissed off any teachers or anything lately right?” Laura asks sceptically

Carmilla scoffs, “I’m sure I have, but why do you assume that I did something wrong cutie, this could be about you.”

Laura’s brow furrows and Carmilla just knows she is running through every interaction she’s had with a faculty member throughout the past week in her head.   
Carmilla elbows her lightly, “I was kidding Laura, all your teachers love you I’m sure there is nothing wrong. Maybe she just saw us on TV last weekend and wants our autograph.”

It’s Laura’s turn to scoff as she takes in the stupid expression on Carmilla’s face as she wiggles her eyebrows suggestively. “Yeah right”

They walk into the principal’s office and take a seat on one side of the desk while Mrs. Tullos walks around to her chair and sits down.

Laura is feeling nervous now and she didn’t even realize she was bouncing her leg up and down until Carmilla put her hand on her knee to stop it.

“Sorry” She mouths at Carmilla as Mrs. Tullos starts to speak

“So girls, I’m sure you’re wondering what this is all about.” She began, Laura nodded while Carmilla just stared

“Well I have some good news, and normally we just announce it to the whole school but I thought given your situation you might want to hear about it now, and if I’m being honest a small part of me just wanted to be the one to tell you.”

Laura and Carmilla didn’t say as a word as they waited for the principal to get to the point.

“As I’m sure you are aware prom is coming up in a month, and normally we let seniors nominate other students for prom king and queen and then we hold a vote at prom.” 

Laura nodded, not really sure where this was going but hoping that it got there soon.

“Well we had quite a few seniors come in and nominate students this year, but every single one of them nominated you two”

Mrs. Tullos was beaming, Laura looked shocked and Carmilla looked like she might be sick.  
“So there won’t be a vote this year, you two will be prom queens!”

“Oh um.. wow. I don’t really know what to say” Laura finally got out after an awkward moment of Mrs. Tullos excitedly staring waiting for a reaction.

“Why us?” Carmilla asked

“I guess you’re just Silas’ favourite couple” she was still beaming with pride, seemingly oblivious to the two girls shock and discomfort.

“I wanted to tell you guys in person first because I know you’ve had some problems at home Carmilla, and I wanted to reinforce to you that we care about your happiness and well-being here at school.”

Carmilla didn’t respond so Laura jumped in, “Well thanks for letting us know Mrs. Tullos, is there anything else or can we go?”

“You girls are free to go I won’t waste any more of your free period, we’re going to make the announcement at the end of the school day today.”

Laura nodded in response, dragging Carmilla up by the hand and out of the office.

“Holy shit” Laura says once they reach a quiet corner of the library

“Cupcake, such language, how could you” Carmilla holds a hand over her mouth in shock

“Real funny Carm, this is serious.”

Carmilla cracks and laughs at Laura’s bunched up face. “I know it’s serious I haven’t heard you curse since that time that football asshole made fun of Laf. But it’s going to be fine, so the students picked us as prom queens who cares, we can just skip the dance if you want.”

“We’ve only been” Laura glances around before putting up air quotes “dating, for like two weeks and we’re the schools favourite couple.”

“Well what do you expect creampuff, I’m the hottest thing these lack wits have seen in person and you are cuteness personified, of course they love us.” Carmilla winks

“Alright ego, tone it down. I guess I just thought we’d be able to keep a lower profile for the four months and then no one would ask questions when it ended.”

“Well we’ve got three months to worry about that, sounds to me like a problem for future Laura and Carmilla.”

Laura giggles, “Yeah I guess you’re right, and it is kinda cool, never thought I’d have a date to prom let alone be prom queen.”

“What are you talking about Laura every student at this school would be tripping over themselves to be your prom date.”

“Well I guess you got lucky then huh?” Laura asked with a sly grin

“Oh not yet, I heard traditionally that happens on prom night.” Carmilla winked again and Laura blushed bright red

She smacked Carmilla on the shoulder, “Really funny Carm

“I never joke about that sweetheart” Carmilla leaned in close and Laura could swear her heart simultaneously stopped beating and tripled its pace.

Carmilla backed up with a smirk and Laura stuck her tongue out causing her to laugh. “You’re entirely too easy cupcake.”

“I don’t think I’m easy, guess you’ll have to wait for prom night to find out.” It was Carmilla’s turn to catch her breath as Laura winked and then got up from the table as the bell rang signalling the start of their next period. 

 

XXXXXXXXXX

The rest of the school day was uneventful, and Laura was sat in her last class waiting for the afternoon announcements to finish so they could be dismissed for the day. She almost forgot about the prom thing until she heard Principal Tullos get on the intercom. She ducked down in her seat as low as she possibly could, she realized she probably should’ve mentioned something to all her friends who were in this class with her, but it had slipped her mind.

As the announcement was made every single person in the room turned to look and Laura and Carmilla. Laura was bright red for what felt like the tenth time that day, while Carmilla looked wholly unaffected.

The bell rang and everyone began grabbing their stuff to leave while their friends made a beeline for them in the back.   
Kirsch got there first picking Laura up in a bone crushing hug, “Congrats little nerd, I nominated you guys.”

“Oh you did, thanks Kirsch” Kirsch put Laura down and took a step toward Carmilla who just shook her head no and he stopped dead in his tracks. “Congrats to you too Carm-sexy” Carmilla just grimaced at the nickname  
“Yeah congrats Carm-sexy, frosh who would’ve guessed it huh” Laf piped up from behind Kirsch

Carmilla just flipped them off as they laughed.

“Laura sweetie congratulations, you too Carmilla it’s a wonderful accomplishment.” Perry added once Laf calmed down

“Thanks Perry, we’re pretty shocked honestly”

“Well I can’t think of anyone more deserving than you two” Perry said sweetly. Danny who had been quiet throughout the whole exchange scoffed loudly at that comment

“Got something to say Clifford” Carmilla asked

Danny just shook her head, “Congrats Laura guess you didn’t have to worry about finding a date to prom after all.”

Carmilla walked up and put her arm around Laura pulling her into her side, “Nope, she’s all good in the date department” Carmilla said staring at Danny the whole time.

Laura didn’t really appreciate what Carmilla was doing, but she didn’t shrug her off, as much as Carmilla was annoying her Danny was annoying her even more at the moment.

“Oh yeah D-bear, now you don’t have to take Laura to prom she totally found a hot date all on her own.” Kirsch piped up

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Kirsch.” Danny said through gritted teeth, “I’ve gotta get to track practice.” She turned and strode quickly out of the room.

“What did you mean about Danny Kirsch” Carmilla asked

“Oh little nerd-hottie here mentioned something a few weeks ago about not going to prom because she didn’t want to go alone and then after she left D-bear was talking to herself I think because she wasn’t talking to me, about asking Laura to go with her or something. She was just being a good bro” Kirsch said the word bro with a puffed-out chest.

“Ah that explains it then” Laf says, Kirsch looks confused but doesn’t say anything. Everyone else remains quiet, Laura especially is feeling uncomfortable and she is grateful when Carm says bye abruptly and they make their way out to her car.

“Did you know Xena wanted to take you to prom” Carmilla asked once the car pulled onto Laura’s driveway.

“I had no idea” Laura said honestly

“You can go with her if you want” Carmilla says quietly

“What? I’m going with you Carm, or did you miss the announcement earlier.” Laura said

“Yeah as my fake girlfriend, I didn’t know prom meant so much to you, if you want to go with an actual date I understand. We could break up or figure something out to tell everybody.” Carmilla was practically mumbling the words

“No Carm, you’re right maybe prom means a bit more to me than I was letting on but I can’t think of a better way to spend it than with you.” Laura spoke with a conviction that made Carmilla look up.

“What about Danny?” She asked

“Honestly I wouldn’t have gone with Danny even if this whole relationship wasn’t going on. She’s been a good friend for a while but she treats me like a child, I don’t need that from my prom date, if I did I’d just go with my dad.”

Carmilla laughed, “And I’m sure he’d have been delighted to take you and make sure no one got too close to you or gave you anything to drink.”

“Oh god can you imagine, he would probably pepper spray any guy that came within 5 feet of me, and he bring punch from home just in case” They were both laughing now as they thought about papa Hollis at prom.

Once they stopped laughing Carmilla turned to Laura, “Well then I’m honoured you’ll let me take you to prom”

“Well I wouldn’t say that just yet” Laura said with a grin

“What do you mean cupcake?”

“I mean, you still have to ask me to prom, and I expect it to be good Karnstein.” Laura winked and got out of the car before Carmilla could respond.


	5. Chapter 5

“Carm are you ready? We’re going to be late” Laura called out, walking down the hallway from her bedroom to Carmilla’s bedroom.

The door is open, so she walks in and noticing that Carmilla isn’t in the room she goes and takes a seat on the bed. She can hear noise coming from the bathroom that’s connected to the bedroom so she decides to call out again, “Carmilla what could possibly be taking you so…..”

Laura trails off as the door opens and Carmilla steps out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. She’s wearing black skinny jeans with rips on the knees, a plain white t-shirt and she’s pulling on her leather jacket. Laura’s eyes are trained on the small sliver of skin showing between her pants and her shirt as it rides up a bit when she puts her jacket on. Laura isn’t sure how long she sits there mouth agape, staring at her friend, but she snaps out of it when she hears Carmilla’s voice.

“What were you yelling about creampuff?” She makes her way over to the bed and takes a seat next to Laura, bending down to pull on her boots.

“I was saying you need to hurry up we are going to be late.” Laura huffs, regaining her composure

“Hey it takes work to look this good” Carmilla winks and Laura rolls her eyes deciding not to fuel her ego by commenting, “Besides, no one is on time to parties anyway”

Carmilla stands up finally ready and holds a hand out to help Laura up off the bed. Laura takes the offered hand and moves to get up, she underestimates the amount of strength Carmilla uses to pull her up and ends up tripping and crashing right into the other girl.

“Oofh” Carmilla exclaims, absorbing the blow from Laura’s flailing body but managing to keep her balance and keep them both standing up right.

“Oh my gosh are you alright Carm, I’m so sorry” Laura asks running her hands up Carmilla’s arms while her eyes search her face for any signs of pain.

“I’m okay, I never mind holding a pretty girl in my arms, I could do with a little warning first next time though.”

Laura blushes before stepping back and creating some space between Carmilla and herself. Carmilla chuckles at her bashful look before grabbing her hand and leading her out of the room.  
“Come on creampuff, weren’t you just spazzing out about being late”

“I wasn’t spazzing” Laura mumbles, but she allows herself to be lead out of the house and into Carmilla’s car.

 

They pull up outside of Elsie’s parents’ house and they can already hear music and yelling coming from inside.

“Why did we have to come to this again” Carmilla asks as she turns off the car and turns to face Laura

“Because Elsie invited us to celebrate winning prom queens in front of a bunch of people and we said we would come so we can’t bail.” Laura says

“We didn’t agree, you agreed. I was perfectly fine with telling her to stop talking and leave us alone.” 

“Oh stop acting like you hate parties, free booze and a chance to dance and make fun of our classmates all night.”

“I can make fun of those lackwits without being in their presence, and I’d definitely prefer dancing just the two of us.” Carmilla leans closer to Laura as she speaks, never breaking eye contact.

Laura’s breath catches in her throat and she momentarily doesn’t know what to say so she opens the door and scrambles out of the car.

Carmilla sighs, staring at Laura as she walks around the car and stands next to the driver side door waiting for Carmilla to get out.

She makes a show of slowly opening the door and standing up like it’s the hardest thing in the world. Laura giggles at her antics and Carmilla cracks a smile, having received the response she wanted. They walk up to the front door of the house and Carmilla rings the doorbell as Laura finds her other hands and intertwines it with hers.

The door swings open and Elsie is standing there, looking like she might have already had one too many drinks. “Laura! Carmilla! Welcome, come in come in” She excitedly ushers them inside the house.

The house looks like it would be really nice if it wasn’t full of a bunch of 18-year olds making a mess. Laura glances at Elsie who is leading them towards what looks like the kitchen. She can’t tell if Elsie is already drunk or just in a really good mood. She’s known Elsie for all four years of high school, but they never really hung out much outside of class, Elsie is a party girl and Laura for the most part is not. But they’re entering their last semester of school, and her relationship with Carmilla has suddenly made them the talk of the school, so Laura figures it’s as good a time as any to see how other high schoolers spend their nights.

They walk into the kitchen and are immediately spotted by Kirsch who is hanging out with his girlfriend SJ. Kirsch comes bounding over to them excitedly, two cups seemingly appear in his hands and he gives one to each of them before hugging Laura and waving hello at Carmilla.

“Little nerd and Carm-sexy glad you guys made it” he says, SJ appears next to him, having walked over at a more normal pace.

“Hey guys” She says, Laura returns the greeting and Carmilla nods as she takes a sip of the drink Kirsch handed her.

“We were gonna head to the dance floor, do you guys wanna join?” Kirsch asks them

“That’s alright Kirsch, I think we need a drink or two before we’ll be ready to dance with everyone.”

Kirsch just shrugs and leads SJ to the makeshift dance floor in the living room.

Laura turns to Carmilla after watching Kirsch and SJ walk away “Wanna go find a seat?” She asks

Carmilla nods and motions for her to lead the way. They find a seat on a couch near the back of the living room and take a seat, watching their class mates dance like idiots to the music that was blaring throughout the house.

They sat there for ten minutes chatting with each other, Laura laughing at Carmilla’s comments about the people she could see dancing. Then Laura looked over and saw Perry and Laf walk into the room.

“Look who’s here Carm we should go say hi” Laura says excitedly, pointing out the ginger duo

“We saw them this morning at school cupcake” Carmilla says, Laura looks at her with a pout “How about you go talk to them and I’ll go get us another drink?” Laura nods

“That works, thanks Carm” She plants a kiss on Carmilla’s cheek and hops up to go say hi to Laf and Perry who have already spotted them.

Carmilla stays sitting, momentarily stunned as she raises her hand to her cheek where Laura’s lips had been. She snaps out of it after a second, standing up and casting a glance toward Laura and catching a shit eating grin on Laf’s face as they make eye contact with her. She rolls her eyes at them and heads to the kitchen.

“Hey guys how’s it going?” Laura asks as she reaches Laf and Perry

“Hey frosh, where’s your girlfriend going?” Laf says in return

“To get us another drink” Laura says, “Have you guys been here long?”

“Yeah we were out back talking to Danny and some of her friends from the track team” Perry supplies

“Oh Danny’s here?” 

“Yeah she always comes to these parties, Elsie is on the track team.”

“That’s right. I always forget that, she never strikes me as the student athlete type.”

Laf snorts at that, “Yeah I think she just really likes the way she looks in the lettermen jacket.”

“It is a cool jacket” Laura relents

“What’s cool?” Carmilla asks, walking up behind Laura with three drinks in her hands. She gives one to Laura and Laf, Perry shakes her head no when Carmilla tries to give her the last one.

“I’m not drinking tonight, thanks though Carmilla” Perry says

Carmilla shrugs and takes the cup and starts drinking it herself. “Well I don’t know about you guys but I’m gonna go dance” Laf says excitedly as they down the drink Carmilla gave them.

Laura turns to look at Carmilla who nods, “Sure lets go cutie”

Laura’s face lights up, she takes Carmilla’s cup out of her hand and places it on a random table along with her own, and they follow Laf and Perry to the middle of the make shift dance floor.

It takes about thirty seconds for Laura to remember why she normally stays home and watches Netflix on Friday, she can’t dance, at all.

Carmilla notices her hesitance and pulls her close, placing her hands on the shorter girls hips. She leans in until her mouth is right next to Laura’s ear, “Don’t overthink it, just move to the beat.”

She moves Laura’s hips for her, matching the rhythm with her own. Laura’s face is bright red as she looks into Carmilla’s, after a while the eye contact becomes too much so she turns around dancing with her back pressed to Carmilla’s front.

At this point she’s gotten over her initial reservations and is just enjoying herself, she likes this music even if it is just crappy pop tunes.

She notices Laf and Perry off to her left, Laf is jumping up and down like a maniac and Perry, well Perry is actually a really god dancer. She Laughs at her friends and turns her head to point them out to Carmilla when the song ends, and the house goes quiet.

Elsie suddenly appears next to the speakers where the music ad been coming from, “Time to play some games guys. If you don’t want to play go to another part of the house.”

Most of the kids make their way out of the room going to the backyard or the kitchen to get another drink. Laf and Perry don’t move to leave and neither does Carmilla, so Laura stays put as well. She notices Kirsch, SJ, and Natalie also stay and Danny and some of the track team come walking into the room along with a bunch of the football team guys that Kirsch greets enthusiastically. 

“So truth or dare, or spin the bottle?” Elsie asks, a glint in her eye that Carmilla recognizes as her not being as drunk as she originally thought.

“Truth or dare” Someone calls out and Elsie nods. “Alright everyone get in a circle, I’ll spin first and whoever the bottle lands on can choose a truth or dare and then afterwards they can spin and pick someone else. If you refuse a dare or don’t answer a question you have to take a shot.”

Everyone nods as they form a slightly wonky circle in the middle of the room. Laura is sitting between Laf and Carmilla, Elsie is on the other side of Carmilla and Perry is next to Laf. Danny is directly across from them and Laura notices her staring at them when she looks up. Carmilla must notice it as well, she puts her arm around Laura’s shoulder and pulls her a little closer.

Elsie leans forward and places an empty beer bottle in the middle of the circle, glancing around at everyone before giving it a spin. It rotates around the circle a few times before stopping on SJ.

Elsie smirks, “Truth or dare Sara jane.”

“Uh, I’ll go with a dare.”

“Alright, I dare you to kiss Lawrence.” Danny looks a little taken aback and SJ glances over at Kirsch to see if he’s okay with it before shrugging and leaning over to Danny who is sitting next to her and giving her a chaste kiss.

There’re a few wolf whistles from the guys as SJ leans back and gives the bottle a spin. It lands on Laura after a couple seconds and Laura suddenly feels nervous.

She looks up at SJ, at least it’s a nice person who probably won’t make her say or do anything crazy.

“Truth” She says and SJ smiles at her, while Carmilla’s hand gently rubs up and down on her back.

“Okay Laura, no one really knows much about your relationship with Carmilla, so who made the first move and how long have you guys actually been together?”

“That’s two questions” Carmilla pipes up, but everyone ignores her. Laura looks over at her, letting her know that it’s alright, this is exactly why Laura made sure they had their story straight when this thing first began.

“Well we’ve been together for about a month and a half, and Carmilla asked me out, but I wasn’t exactly subtle about trying to get her to.”

Everyone laughs at that, including Carmilla. Most of them having witnessed just how unsubtle Laura can be when it comes to anything really.

Laura spins the bottle and the game goes on for a while. Perry had to freestyle rap, Laf made a disgusting concoction for one of the football guys to drink, as the game went on and everyone continued to drink the dares and the questions got worse and worse. Kirsch had just run a lap around Elsie’s house naked and he came back to the circle full clothed and spun the bottle. 

It landed on Carmilla for the first time and suddenly everyone seemed very interested in what was going to happen. While Carmilla is not generally one for stupid stunts, there was no way she was going to answer a personal question in front of everyone, so she said “Dare”

Kirsch looked like he was thinking as hard as he possibly could to come up with something good. “I’ll give you a choice, cause I’m a nice bro, so you can either take a body shot off of someone in this room, or let someone take a body shot off you.”

“I get to pick the other person” Carmilla asked and Kirsch nodded

“Okay cupcake” she said turning to Laura, “You want to take a shot?” She smirked as she asked the question and saw Laura’s eyes widen a little. 

“Should’ve said anyone but her girlfriend idiot” Elsie piped up

Carmilla hadn’t had a drink since before she danced with Laura earlier, she had to drive them home later, so she figured it was a good idea to stop after two cups.  
Laura definitely wasn’t drunk, but she wasn’t sober either. She probably should’ve known instantly that Carmilla would choose her, and if she was being honest she would’ve been jealous if Carmilla hadn’t, but the idea of taking a shot off of Carmilla in front of everyone made her extremely nervous and excited at the same time.

She nodded yes, and she thought she saw what looked like relief flood Carmilla’s features for a second. Then Kirsch stood and happily began ushering everyone into the kitchen where the drinks were. 

Kirsch hands Carmilla a lime slice and a salt shaker. She takes off her jacket as Kirsch pours a shot of tequila and hands it to Laura.

Carmilla squeezes a bit of the lime in a line running down her neck, and then puts the salt on the lime juice so it sticks to her neck.

As Carmilla does this Laura is trying hard to not stare, but it isn’t working. She must have had just enough alcohol that she no longer has control over where her eyes focus, and right now they’re transfixed on the rivulets of lime juice that are running down Carmilla’s neck. They’re just starting to pool in the hallow above Carmilla’s collar bone when Laura’s attention is snapped back to reality by someone clearing their throat.   
It’s Carmilla holding a lime wedge delicately in her mouth and staring at Laura with one eyebrow raised, as if she was daring Laura to take it.

Laura downs the shot in her hand and motions for Kirsch to pour her another one as she takes the few steps to close the space between her and Carmilla.

Holding the new shot, she glances around once to see that the attention of everyone in the kitchen is focused on the two of them. Then she lowers her head and her surroundings fade away as she starts to lick the salt from Carmilla’s neck.

She can smell lime juice and Carmilla’s perfume she thinks, or maybe it’s her shampoo, but whatever it is smells so good and just soo Carmilla. Whatever was controlling her eyes earlier must also have control over her mouth because she can feel herself dipping lower to get the lime juice that she saw drip onto Carmilla’s collar bone. She hears and feels Carmilla’s breath hitch as her tongue reaches her collar bone.

Laura pulls back and takes the shot as quickly as she can, avoiding making eye contact with Carmilla.

That plan fails almost immediately as she realizes the next step is the lime that’s currently in Carmilla’s mouth. As she leans up to take it her eyes meet Carmilla’s and she is surprised to see just how dark Carmilla’s eyes have become. Her pupils are blown wide, and Laura fears her eyes probably look the same

Laura carefully goes to grab the lime, trying not to touch Carmilla too much, but also trying not to look like she’s afraid to touch Carmilla. They are dating after all, people might think it’s weird if Laura avoids Carmilla’s mouth completely. 

As her mind is running through every possible bad outcome Laura doesn’t realize she’s closed the distance between them and she feels Carmilla’s breath hitting her lips. She closes her lips over the lime and is about to pull back quickly when she feels Carmilla’s mouth softly brush up against her own. Laura freezes as warmth spreads through her chest at the contact. Then she abruptly pulls back, spitting the lime off to the side and it’s like her ears have switched back on as she can now hear everyone around them hollering and whistling.

Laura blushes as she looks over at Carmilla who is taking deep breaths with a slightly shocked look on her face.

 

XXXXXX

 

The party was pretty uneventful after the game ended and Laura and Carmilla were headed home less than thirty minutes later.

They were both quiet unsure of what to say, or if they should say anything at all. 

Carmilla was the one that broke the silence once they got back to the house.

“I’m sorry if that got a little weird, I just thought it would look odd if I picked anyone else to do it.” She said a little sheepishly

“No you’re right, you didn’t do anything wrong” Laura said immediately, “I’m the one who should be sorry I think I took it a little too far I was just worried what people would think if it didn’t look convincing” She said it all quickly without pausing to take a breath

Carmilla smiled, “It’s fine Laura, nothing happened that made me uncomfortable”

“Okay good, then we can just forget about it” Laura said, more to herself than to Carmilla

“Sure thing cutie. Wanna watch Netflix for a little while, I’m not that tired”

“Only if I get to pick what we watch” Laura bargained

“Deal, I’m gonna go change. Want to watch it in your room or mine, er I mean the guest room”

“Don’t be silly Carm you heard my dad, as far as we’re concerned that’s your room.” Carmilla smiled shyly at that, “But my bed is way more comfortable so let’s watch in my room” Laura added

Carmilla just nodded and went to her room to change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the kudos and encouraging comments, it's nice to know that people are invested in the story. Hope you like the next part, sorry if there are any mistakes I typed this up quickly while I was avoiding writing my school assignment.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ones a little longer than my normal updates, hope you like it.

Laura wakes up slowly, she can tell that it’s later than she usually sleeps based on the sunlight coming in through her window. She feels warm and content and it takes a few moments for her to register that the warmth isn’t coming from the sunlight but from the softly breathing body that she is using as a pillow. She opens her eyes fully and sees that Carmilla is still fast asleep, her hair fanned out on Laura’s favourite yellow pillow and Laura’s head was resting on her chest, tucked under her chin. 

She took a moment to just revel in the feeling of being this close to Carmilla and not having to worry about hiding her feelings. Her complete lack of a hangover this morning just confirms what she already knew last night but was trying to deny; she didn’t get carried away at the party last night because she was drunk, she got carried away because it was Carmilla. 

She took one last calming breath and then she carefully extracted herself from the bed, doing her best not to jostle Carmilla.

As Laura walked into the kitchen she noticed her father sitting at the table drinking a cup of coffee while he scanned the newspaper.

“Morning dad” Laura says as she makes her way to the kitchen and starts preparing a mug of hot chocolate for herself.

“Hey pumpkin, sleep well?” Sherman asks, putting down the paper

“Yeah, I didn’t hear you come home last night, were you stuck at the station really late?” Laura asks putting the finishing touches on her mug of hot chocolate and then walking over to join her dad at the table.

“Yeah the new guy messed up his paperwork. I’m telling you I spend more time doing paperwork than police work these days.” He chuckles and Laura smiles

“You’re still the best cop out there dad.”

“You bet I am.” He finishes off his coffee and then leans forward in his chair so that he is fully facing his daughter.

“I noticed Carmilla slept in your room last night, and the door was closed when I came home.” He had that look on his face that made shrink a little in her seat

“We were just watching a movie after we got home from our friend’s house and we fell asleep dad I swear” Laura says instantly

“You know the rules Laura no closed doors. You know how much I like Carmilla and I trust both of you girls, but you guys will lose that trust if you aren’t following the few rules I set.”

Laura ducks her head in shame, “I know dad I’m sorry. I promise it was just an accident and it won’t happen again”

“Oh I’m sure it won’t, because if it does I will sit down with you and Carmilla and have the same safe sex conversation we had when you were sixteen, pictures and all.”

Laura shudders at the memory of that mortifying conversation, and Sherman laughs knowing that his point got across.

“All that aside, I know I was a little upset when I found out you were dating Carmilla, but that was only because you felt the need to hide it from me. Seeing the two of you together makes me a very proud father, I always knew you liked Carmilla and everyone can see you two are really good for each other and the way you’re helping her through this stuff with her mom, I’m just proud of you pumpkin.”

Laura’s dad pulls her into a hug and Laura is feeling so many emotions, she’s so grateful to have such an amazing accepting father but she’s also feeling guilty about lying to his face.

“Well now that that is settled how about I make some breakfast. Will Carmilla be gracing us with her presence anytime soon?”

Laura laughs, “I’m sure she’ll appear when she starts to smell food.”

 

XXXXXXX

Carmilla woke up abruptly. She was disorientated as she tried to understand what had happened to cause her to wake up so suddenly. After a moment she realized she could hear Laura laughing and it dawned on her, Laura had jumped onto the bed.

“Ugh cupcake what are you doing jumping on the bed at this ungodly hour?” Carmilla croaked, burying her head into the pillow

“It’s after 10 Carm. My dad made breakfast so its time to get up”

Carmilla groaned again as she opened one eye to glance at Laura, quickly shutting it as the room was way too bright.

“You know my sleep schedule has suffered dearly since this relationship began, and not in a fun way”

Laura stopped fidgeting on the other side of the bed “Don’t even joke about that Carm, my dad could hear you” She said lightly smacking Carmilla’s arm

Carmilla finally opened both eyes, mainly to catch the blush she knew would be on Laura’s face.

“You’re worried he’ll hear me say that we aren’t having sex” Carmilla asked

Laura shot across the bed clamping a hand over Carmilla’s mouth. “I’m serious Carm don’t say the word” she looked around and then whispered “sex”

Carmilla chuckled her mouth still covered by Laura’s hand

“Trust me you don’t want to know what will happen if he thinks we are doing that in his house” She gives Carmilla a pointed look before removing her hand

“Okay, okay I’m sorry I won’t bring it up again” Carmilla says and then she smirks, “While your dads around anyway”

Laura just groans. “Just get your lazy butt up and come eat some breakfast”

Carmilla laughs as she watches Laura walk out of the room, before she gets up and follows her into the kitchen.

 

XXXXXXXXXXX

 

Carmilla groans as she hears the doorbell. Laura shoots her a grin as she jumps up off the couch and goes to open the door.

“Cheer up Carm it’s movie time” She calls over her shoulder

She’s laughing at the groan Carmilla gave in response as she opens the door to Kirsch, Laf, and Perry and the smile slips from her face as she notices Danny standing behind them looking a little sheepish.

“Hey guys, come on in” She says stepping back to open the door wider and allow everyone to pass.

Laf and Perry head straight into the kitchen where Perry beings to plate the cookies she brought and Laf pops some popcorn. Kirsch bounds into the living room and plops onto the couch, while Danny just awkwardly stands a few feet in front of the door.

“Hey Laura, could we talk for a sec?” She asks 

Laura nods and waits for Danny to start speaking. Dany looks around for a second, “Can we talk in private”  
Laura looks unsure for a moment before she nods and starts walking toward her bedroom, Danny following.

Carmilla seems to notice Danny for the first time as they walk past the living room and she moves to stand up and follow them. Laura somehow must’ve sensed what Carmilla was doing because she turned her head making eye contact with Carmilla and softly shook her head no, letting her know that she could handle this on her own.

Carmilla angrily fell back onto the chair she was sitting in as Laf entered the room with a bowl of popcorn in their hand.

“What’s she doing here” Carmilla asks Laf, glaring at the back of Danny’s head as it disappears into Laura’s room.

“She always comes to movie day at Laura’s” Laf says simply taking a seat on the couch

“I know that” Carmilla says through gritted teeth, “But why did she come today, she must know Laura doesn’t want to talk to her”

Laf shrugs, “I don’t know what all happened between them, but I’m sure Laura can handle it.”

Carmilla sighs and goes back to staring at the door to Laura’s room.

 

Laura took a seat on the edge of her bed and looked up at Danny who was standing by the door. She didn’t say a word, Danny obviously had something to say so she was content to wait until that happened.

Danny took a deep breath, running her hand through her hair before turning to fully face Laura  
“I wanted to say sorry Laura. I know I’ve been acting like an ass lately”

Laura wasn’t sure what she was expecting from this conversation, but it certainly wasn’t that.  
She’s not really sure what to say but it doesn’t matter as Danny continues on

“and I know it’s not an excuse but I was just hurt that you were keeping secrets from me and frankly I don’t understand what you see in Carmilla and”

“Danny” Laura cut her off, “You’re doing it again. I get that you’re hurt and you have every reason to be mad at me but you can’t talk about Carmilla like that”

Danny looked down sheepishly, “I know, I’m sorry again. You know me and Dracula haven’t ever been the best of friends, but what I meant to say is that while I might not understand it I will do my best to try”

Laura seemed to study her for a second before she responded, “That’s all I ask Danny. I know the snide remarks aren’t one sided and I’ll talk to Carm about being nicer. But it was mainly the whole you not trusting my judgement and trying to tell me what to do. I don’t need another dad, I just want a friend”

Danny finally looks up from the groundnut Laura’s tone. It was a lot lighter than it had been at the beginning of the conversation.

Laura stood up from the bed with a smile and Danny gave her a small smile in return. “Now lets go watch a movie and eat as much junk food as we can until my dad gets home and scolds me for it.”

Danny laughs at that and they make their way out of the bedroom.

 

Carmilla’s head whips around as she hears the door to Laura’s room open and laughter coming from inside. She eyes Danny wearily as she steps into the room and then she makes eye contact with Laura, raising an eyebrow in a silent question.

Laura understands and shakes off her worry with a smile and a quick shake of her head.

“So what movie are we watching Laf asks once they notice everyone is now in the room. Laura shrugs and goes to grab one of the cookies Perry brought. “Did you guys bring anything” Laura mumbled while she munched on a cookie

“Oooh I brought a movie that SJ told me I needed to see, you guys mind if we watch that” Kirsch says, jumping up off the couch

Everyone just kinda nods or shrugs not really caring much, Kirsch takes it as a yes and grabs a disc out of his bag.   
Danny grabs a seat on the couch where Kirsch had just been sitting. Kirsch objects as he sees her sitting down as there are no other open seats so he will have to either grab a chair from the kitchen or sit on the floor.

Danny just smirks at him and Laura giggles at the pout on Kirsch’s face before she walks into the kitchen and grabs a chair for him. She is about to go back and grab another one for herself before she changes her mind and walks over to where Carmilla is sitting in her dad’s big armchair.   
She motions for Carmilla to scoot over and plops down next to her. She immediately regrets her decision as her entire left side is pressed up against Carmilla. It feels great, and incredibly distracting, and now there’s no way she is going to be able to focus on the movie, or anything that isn’t the warmth coming off of Carmilla and the familiar scent of her shampoo.

Laf looks over and catches the blush on Laura’s face. They smirk at Laura and then cock their head to the side as they notice Carmilla also looking at Laura and then quickly averting her eyes when Laura turns her head.

The opening credits for the movie starts and Laura realizes she was wrong, she has been distracted from the closeness of Carmilla because she knows this movie, it’s the Proposal.

She groans right as Laf bursts out laughing. Kirsch, Danny, and Perry look really confused glancing back and forth between Laura and Laf while Carmilla is just staring at Laura.

“What’s wrong cupcake?” Carmilla asks quietly while Kirsch loudly asks Laf what’s so funny

“Oh this movie just reminds me of this funny thing Laura did one time” Laf waves them off and everyone seems to accept the answer as they turn back to the movie.

Carmilla is still staring at Laura waiting for an answer, “Have you seen this movie before?” Laura whispers

“No, why?” Carmilla asks

Laura glances around making sure no one else is paying attention to their conversation before she leans in close to Carmilla’s ear, “It’s a movie about people faking a relationship, Laf is never going to let us live this down”

Carmilla is pretty sure that’s not the reason Laura looks so uncomfortable right now but she decides to drop it for now and just watch the movie.

She settles back into the chair and hesitates for a second before placing her arm around Laura. Everyone but Laf thinks they’re together so it’s not weird, that’s how she rationalizes it to herself as she feels Laura tense at the contact. She’s about to pull away when Laura relaxes and sinks into her, now that Carmilla initiated the contact Laura leans into her fully getting comfortable and resting her head on her shoulder.

 

Near the end of the movie Laura felt Carmilla’s head resting atop her own, she didn’t think much of it until the credits began to role and Carmilla didn’t move. She wiggled a little bit and still nothing, she realized Carmilla must have fallen asleep. She doesn’t mind except now she can’t go and grab a cookie like she wanted.

“So are we watching another one?” Danny asks

“I’m cool with that” Laf says and Laura hums in agreement.  
Kirsch stands up to take the movie out of the DVD player, “Hey Kirsch can you pass me a cookie” Laura asks as he walks past

“Why don’t you just grab one yourself…. Oh broody over there couldn’t stay awake for an entire rom com” Danny said

“That doesn’t look like a comfortable position for her neck Laura, you should probably take her to bed” Perry says

Laf snorts “Yeah frosh taker her to bed” 

Laura glares, although the affect is kind of ruined by the pink blush tinting her face.  
“I’m sure she’ll be fine Per, besides I promised her we would watch one of those slasher films she likes if she didn’t complain about this movie too much. Since she’s asleep we pick whatever we want instead”

 

Carmilla woke up thirty minutes later to her phone vibrating in her pocket. Harry potter was playing on the screen and she frowned over at Laura, “Not cool cutie, it was my turn to pick”

Laura looked up and giggled at Carmilla’s sleepy pout, “I figured you would sleep right through it anyway, you’re normally out for a lot longer when you take a nap”

Carmilla huffs, “I would have but someone is calling me” Her phone begins to vibrate again so she takes it out of her pocket, glancing at the screen she excuses herself from the room to answer it.

Laura follows her with her eyes as Carmilla walks into the kitchen, answers the phone and then proceeds to pace back and forth as she has a hushed conversation with someone.

Laura thinks about who it could possibly be, most of their friends are here now, and if it was another friend why would Carmilla feel the need to have that conversation in private. Carmilla looks agitated as she continues to speak and Laura figures it must be a family member. She hopes it’s Mattie and not her mother, she seems to be on good terms with Will so its probably not him.

Carmilla’s eyes find Laura’s as she continues speaking and their eyes stayed locked on one another, Carmilla seems a little calmer as she finishes the conversation and hangs up the phone.

Laura goes to get up and see what the call was all about but Carmilla shakes her head, gesturing to all their friends still sitting there watching the movie. Laura understands, they’ll talk about it later once everyone has left.

 

XXXXXXX

 

“Thanks again for the cookies Perry. We’ll see you guys on Monday, Bye.” Laura calls out as her friends walk down her driveway and into their respective vehicles. She sighs as she shuts the front door and turns back toward the living room where Carmilla is seated.

“So what was that phone call all about?” She asks flopping onto the coach

Carmilla smiles at her antics, “It was nothing major just Mattie, she uh wants us to attend a fundraising dinner she’s hosting tomorrow evening.”

“Okay is that all, you seemed a little upset while you were talking to her. Also do we need to dress up fancy?”

“That’s all, you know how Mattie can be she just got on my nerves. She didn’t mention a dress code but the dinner is at that fancy new Italian place that opened a few months ago so I’d assume so yes.”

“You know I can tell when you’re lying to me right Carm? You always avoid eye contact when you lie.” Laura says smugly, she gets up off the couch and walks over to where Carmilla is on the chair they had been sharing earlier.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about cupcake, I’m telling the truth the dinner tomorrow is at a fancy restaurant.” Carmilla had a smug grin as she looked straight at Laura’s face as she spoke.

Laura huffs, “You’re lying about the conversation with Mattie, I could see you were arguing with her, what was it about?”

Carmilla dropped her head so Laura sat down on the floor in front of the chair, so she could see Carmilla’s face again. She didn’t say anything, she just waited until Carmilla was ready to tell her what was going on, she didn’t mind waiting in silence when it came to making sure Carmilla was okay.

Carmilla seemed to come to a conclusion in her mind as she sat up a little straighter, “Mattie said she talked to my mother. She said she seemed a little to smug when she brought up our relationship and how we’re backing Mattie in the election.”

Laura nodded, reaching out and grabbing Carmilla’s hand. She knows how much Carmilla hates talking about her mom, even before she kicked her out it was a tough topic.

“Anyways, Mattie is pretty sure my mother still has friends all over the town including at our school, and she is worried she might find out our relationship isn’t exactly real.”

“How would she find that out the only people that know besides me and you are Mattie and Laf, and they certainly won’t tell your mother anything.”

“Apparently there’s been some speculation that the relationship is fake because we don’t ‘act like a couple” she threw air quotes around that phrase, “when were out or even in school”

“Okay, so Mattie thinks we need to step it up a bit.” Laura says more to herself than to Carmilla

“I told her we wouldn’t do anything crazy, I don’t want to make this anymore uncomfortable than it already is for you”

Laura smiles, “It’s fine Carmilla nothing about you or this situation has made me uncomfortable. If Mattie wants us to step it up a bit then we’ll show her tomorrow that we can absolutely do that.”

 

XXXXXXX

 

Laura was fidgeting nervously in the back seat of the car that Mattie had sent to pick them up for the dinner. She was trying her best to look anywhere or at anything but the girl sitting next to her.

She should’ve known that if Carmilla in tight jeans and a jacket for a house party had been distracting, Carmilla in dress pants and a blazer would cause her to internally combust. It’s not fair, how can one person look so damn good. Laura had all but fainted when Carmilla stepped out of her room earlier, hair and makeup done up nice, and then Laura actually did trip over herself when she noticed Carmilla was wearing heels. Luckily, she had been standing behind the kitchen counter, so she caught herself before she fell and Carmilla didn’t see it.

Carmilla is also being very quiet on the ride to the restaurant, although Laura assumes Carmilla isn’t being quiet for the same reason. Carmilla is probably nervous about having to act like a happy couple in front of everyone, while Laura is nervous she’ll be too distracted staring at Carmilla and end up making a fool of herself in front of everyone.

Neither one of the girls notices that the car has stopped until a man is opening up the door on Carmilla’s side.

Carmilla glanced over at Laura, “ready creampuff?” she asks and Laura nods

Carmilla climbs out of the car and then turns and offers a hand to Laura, helping her out. Mattie had warned them that there would probably be a few news cameras there and she was right. 

Laura musters up her courage, remembering the promise she made to herself earlier, she was going to prove to Mattie and everyone else that they could pull off the image of the perfect couple, she’ll just have to deal with the inevitable pain its going to cause herself later.

She reaches out with both hands and smooths the front of Carmilla’s blazer, looking lovingly into her eyes. “This was a nice choice Carm, you look really good tonight.”

Carmilla smiles and holds out an arm for Laura to grab as they begin walking into the restaurant. “Thanks cupcake, and I do believe I told you earlier that you look amazing in that dress, but I feel like it needs to be said again. You look absolutely stunning and every person in there is going to be jealous that I have you on my arm.”

Laura took a deep breath as they walked inside. She knew Carmilla would be good at this whole fake relationship thing, but she didn’t realise just how much of an affect it was going to have on her. Carmilla could make anyone swoon with just one look, Laura is clearly no exception.

They spot Mattie pretty easily, she’s in the centre of the room talking to an older gentleman with a cane. When Mattie spots them she waves them over and they make their way through the tables and over to her.

“Ah Carmilla, Laura so glad you could come this evening” Mattie says once they reach her, “This is Baron Vordenburg” she gestures to the man standing next to her “He’s made a generous contribution to my campaign”

Vordenburg nods excitedly, “Yes, yes you are Lilita’s daughter aren’t you” He asks looking at Carmilla

“Yes sir I am” Carmilla says

“Well I’m sure it was tough to choose between backing your mother or your step-sister for this election, I donated to your mothers campaign for years myself”

“It wasn’t a difficult choice sir, I believe Mattie is what this state needs right now” Carmilla spews out the line she had been taught. Mattie and her advisors thought it would be best to not directly mention Lilita kicking her out or being homophobic, just let everyone reach that conclusion on their own.

“Yes of course, and you must be Miss Hollis” Vordenburg turns to Laura, who is surprised he knows who she is.

“I heard your relationship with Carmilla hear is what caused the rift between Lilita and her daughter.”

Laura’s not really sure how to respond to that, she looks to Mattie for help and Mattie just nods and motions for her to respond.

“Um yes I’m Laura it’s very nice to meet you Mr. Vordenburg, and thank you for contributing to Mattie’s campaign.”

“Oh I can see why you’d pick her over your mother dear, I like her” Vordenburg says to Carmilla, giving Laura a creepy once over.

Carmilla takes a step forward blocking part of Laura from Vordenburg’s gaze, “I am very lucky to be with her yes” She says through a forced smile. 

Mattie decides now is a good time to step in, she starts talking to Vordenburg about something that Laura and Carmilla honestly don’t give a shit about.

Carmilla turns so that she is fully between Vordenburg and Laura, her back to the old man. She leans up to whisper in Laura’s ear, “Sorry I probably should have warned you cupcake, you get a lot of creepy old men at these political functions.”

Laura leans over and rests her forehead against Carmilla’s. To anyone else in the room it looked like the two girls were just having a sweet moment to themselves.

“I figured as much Carm, I’ll be okay I can handle gross old men like him. Thank you for trying to protect me though”

Carmilla just nods slightly not wanting to break this moment. Then she hears Vordenburg’s voice and it’s like a bucket of ice water down her spine, erasing the warmth she had been feeling with having Laura so close.

‘You two really are sweet, you just have to meet everyone come along” Vordenburg says

They spend the next hour being introduced to a bunch of people, names and faces that they will both forget the second they walk out of here. Mattie is off somewhere talking to people as well, securing donations and support for her campaign. Vordenburg has finally left them alone and they both breathe a sigh of relief.

“Oh my god I didn’t think he would ever stop talking” Carmilla quietly groans

Laura laughs, “Yeah that wasn’t pleasant, but look at the Brightside a lot of people seem to have decided to support Mattie over your mother, it seems Mattie was right.”

“Of course I was dear” Mattie says appearing behind them, “I always know what I’m talking about. Like I know that a lot of people were charmed by the two of you and your lovely relationship defying Lilita’s homophobic ways and staying together.”

Carmilla snorts, “Yeah yeah you tell a great story, but did you have to leave us with Baron Von-creep all evening.”

“A lot of people listen to him dear, he holds a lot of influence over a lot of the big players in this state. I know he’s been looking for a way to undermine Lilita for ages and your relationship is the perfect tool for him to do just that.”

“Great well I’m glad this all worked out for you, can we go home now.” Carmilla asks

“I just have to give a little speech thanking everyone, and then Vordenburg asked if he could say something, and then it’ll be done dear.” Mattie smiles.

Her smiles always seem just a little off putting to Laura, but she’s glad they’re almost done, it’s been a long night of pretending to be interested in people’s stories.

 

Mattie’s speech is short and to the point, everyone claps politely and they all seem ready to leave when Vordenburg steps into the middle of the room. Clearing his throat, he grabs everyone’s attention.

“I just wanted to say a quick word before you all leave. I’m sure you’ve all been very generous to Mrs. Belmonde’s campaign tonight. I know we all have had some hardships under the policies that Lilita has passed over the last few years. Before you go I just want to give my thanks to the brave girls who brought everyone’s attention to Lilita’s lies recently.”

Laura groans and Carmilla says “Shit” under her breath as everyone turns to look at them.

“These two girls are such a lovely couple, and they’ve been through so much hardship thanks to Lilita, so I hope you find it in your hearts, and wallets, to help strip Lilita of her power and influence, do it for these wonderful girls.”

Everyone cheers at that and Laura and Carmilla are frozen, unsure what to do with everyone staring at them.

“Give your girl a kiss dear, let Lilita know she can’t keep such beautiful young love apart” Vordenburg says 

Laura goes bright red and Carmilla looks like a deer caught in head lights. They turn to one another as everyone cheers a little louder. Laura is scared out of her mind, how is she supposed to keep her own feelings in check if they expect her to kiss Carmilla. This wasn’t part of the plan.

She’s not sure what exactly is going through Carmilla’s mind right now but she can tell that she is frozen and she doesn’t think Carmilla will be able to initiate any kind of contact between them.

Mustering up all of her non-existent confidence Laura places a hand on Carmilla’s cheek, smiling like this is something they do all the time. She slowly leans in and Carmilla’s eyes widen a little more in surprise and then Laura closes the distance between them.

She’s pretty sure Vordenburg says something but it doesn’t register, all that is going through her mind right now is, ‘Oh my god Oh my god Oh my god Oh my god Oh my god’ because she is kissing Carmilla and it is amazing. Carmilla must have been shaken from her stupor as their lips met because she is kissing Laura back and Laura might faint. She’s thought about this a few times, what it would feel like if Carmilla ever kissed her, but she never imagined it would feel like this.

It’s a slow lazy kiss, like it’s something they do all the time, but it’s making Laura’s heart beat faster than it ever has before. 

She pulls back after only a few seconds, every part of her is screaming to continue but she knows if she does she will lose herself completely in her best friend, and then she would actually be fucked. There’s no way she’s getting out of this without getting her heart broken, now she just needs to try and minimize the damage.

Carmilla’s lips seem to follow her own for a second as she pulls away, but she might’ve just imagined that, wishful thinking and all.

They both open their eyes at the same time and Laura isn’t really sure what she was expecting, Carmilla looks just as flustered as she feels. When she glances around she realizes people are still looking at them but their attention is shifting to Mattie and Vordenburg who are speaking again.

Laura doesn’t really hear what they’re saying but she assumes they’re saying good night because everyone seems to be gathering their things. She doesn’t move, unsure what to do with herself. Thankfully Carmilla still seems to have her senses about her, she grabs Laura’s hand and pulls her out of the restaurant and back into the car that brought them there.

Neither one of them know what to say so they have another silent car ride as they make their way back home.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a little bit of a filler chapter, sorry. But the next one is going to have the proposal I know you guys are waiting for.

Silent car rides have suddenly become a thing for Laura and Carmilla, and Laura really hates it. Things never used to be awkward between them, and Laura has never felt at a loss for words when her best friend is around. 

But now every move she makes, every word she says she is second guessing herself and she has found it easier to just not say anything at all. 

So once again Laura has resigned herself to sit silently in the back of the car as they make their way back home. Hopefully she will have collected her thoughts enough by the time they get there, and she’ll be able to have a conversation with Carmilla about what just happened. While it might have been one of the greatest experiences of her short life so far, and she would give just about anything to kiss Carmilla again. It’s not worth losing her best friend over, and she needs to find a way to reel in her feelings before Carmilla starts to notice that Laura is maybe just a bit too into this fake relationship.

 

Carmilla has never been the talkative one in their friendship. She has never been the kind of person that felt the need to fill any awkward silences. Then she met Laura and she never had to worry about it again, Laura always had something to talk about and they never had any awkward silences between them.

Except now that’s all they seem to have, one awkward silence after another. If it was anyone else in the world Carmilla would just ignore it and move on, but this isn’t just anyone this is Laura. A silent Laura is an unhappy Laura and there is nothing in this world that Carmilla hates more than seeing Laura upset, especially when it’s Carmilla’s fault that she’s upset.

So Carmilla sucks up her pride and turns to Laura, “I’m so sorry Laura, if I had known that old creep was going to do that I would’ve decked him with his own cane when we walked in.”

Laura forced out a laugh at the thought of Carmilla going off on that old man, and then she turned to face Carmilla. She knew Carmilla didn’t like the fact that they had kissed, and that statement just proved it to her.

“It’s okay Carm. I know it was a little awkward, but we both knew it was a possibility that we might have to do at some point during this relationship.”

Carmilla swallowed hard at her words, “Yeah. Yeah I guess so. I’m still sorry it had to happen, especially in front of all those people.”

Laura frowned, “Yeah I hope I didn’t make you too uncomfortable I just didn’t know what else to do with everyone staring at us. I mean I know I’m not the best kisser so that probably made it worse for you, but at least know Mattie can’t say we aren’t convincing right” Laura tried to play it off, hoping they can just get past this.

Carmilla looks really serious all of a sudden, “I wasn’t uncomfortable Laura. How many times do I have to tell you, you could never make me uncomfortable.” She frowns then, her brow furrowing in concentration, “And who told you you’re a bad kisser?”

Laura shrugs, “Oh you know, just my first girlfriend said I wasn’t great at it, and everyone I’ve ever dated has never really said anything either way so I just figured I was never very good at it you know?”

“You mean that girl Ally freshman year?” Carmilla asks and Laura nods, “She was an idiot, don’t listen to her cupcake.” “I knew I was right for not liking her” She mumbles under her breath at the end of her sentence.

Laura hears and actually laughs for the first time. Her smile taking over her face, causing Carmilla to smile in response.

“Hey it’s not like all of your exes are the best people ever” Laura defends which just causes Carmilla to laugh and nod her head in acceptance.

“That’s true cupcake, looking at my track record you’re definitely the best person I’ve ever dated.”

Laura blushes at that but a pleased smile graces her face. She leans over and rests her head on Carmilla’s shoulder and Carmilla adjusts the way she’s sitting to make sure Laura is comfortable.

“Thanks Carm, you’re the best person I’ve ever dated too” she says quietly. Carmilla scoffs as if to say she doesn’t agree and Laura goes to argue the point but Carmilla wraps her arm around her and pulls her just a little closer and Laura all but melts into her. 

Neither one of them realized just how tiring the evening had been and they stay cuddled up in the back of the car for the rest of the drive. It’s silent once again but it’s a comfortable silence and Laura is so glad there’s no more tension.

She knows that she needs to get her feelings under control so this doesn’t happen again, but for now she just wants to enjoy the comfort of being so close to Carmilla.

 

XXXXXXX

 

“I’m serious Laf, I don’t know what to do” Laura groaned as she flung herself onto the bed. Laura had told Carmilla she had a biology project to work on with Lafontaine after school.

Laf chuckled, “I think you’re being a bit overdramatic L. You and Carmilla seemed perfectly normal during school today.”  
“I know and I’m really lucky Carm doesn’t hate me after this past weekend. I can’t keep getting carried away with this whole fake relationship thing or she’s gonna figure out that I like her as more than a friend and then I’ll lose her.”

At least that’s what Lafontaine thinks she said, Laura had her head buried into a pillow the entire time she spoke. 

“Have you thought about just telling Carmilla the truth?”

Laura flips around on the bed so fast she almost knocks Lafontaine off the edge of it

“I can’t do that! I came to you to figure out how to keep my best friend, not scare her away for good”

“Oh come on frosh, you have to know that Carmilla would never just walk away from you. I mean come on she’s totally whipped for you. I think if you just gave her a chance you might be surprised at her response.”

Laura just violently shakes her head no. “Nope, not gonna risk it.”

Laf sighs, “Okay fine, then what exactly do you want me to help you with?”

“Well I told you Mattie thinks we need to step up our game at this whole pretending thing, she doesn’t think Carmilla’s mom is convinced. Apparently she has spies or whatever all over town.”

Laf just nods, they heard all of this already during class today when Laura was rambling and asking if she could come over after school.

“So I need a plan to make our relationship look more convincing, whilst not going too far and thus saving myself from total heartbreak.”

“I still think you should talk to Carmilla, you guys can decide what counts as too far and whatever. You say she was weirded out by the kiss, which I’m not sure I believe”

Laura throws a pillow at them, they’ve had this discussion too many times already. Laf dodges the pillow and continues speaking. “But we’ll say you’re right kissing is too far, but I was at the party on Friday and neither one of you looked uncomfortable at all. In fact I’m pretty sure everyone at the party thought you guys left directly after to go have sex, Kirsch and Elsie were saying that show you put on was kinda hot.”

Laf smirks and Laura groans loudly, falling back down into the pillows.

“And who knows maybe if you act like a real couple ‘in love’ you’ll realise you don’t actually like Carmilla as more than a friend, or you’ll both realise you’re a perfect match for each other. Win win wither way.” 

 

XXXXXX  
Laura walks in the door to her house, feeling a little better after her talk with Lafontaine. It wasn’t the most productive conversation, but Lafontaine is always good at telling Laura the hard truth and not coddling her like everyone else does. 

She just needs to sit down with Carmilla and have an honest discussion, well not too honest, but you know.

She finds Carmilla lounging on her bed reading a book. She pauses in the doorway to Carmilla’s room, Carmilla hasn’t noticed her yet so she just takes a second to admire the other girl. She always looks so relaxed when she’s reading, especially when she’s reading some big philosophy book that Laura could never understand. 

“You gonna say something cutie or were you just planning on standing there all afternoon.” Carmilla says, though her eyes never leave the book in her hands.

“I just didn’t want to interrupt you” Laura says, her face tinged pink with the embarrassment of being caught staring.

“Sure, if you say so” Carmilla smirks still not looking up, and she misses the eye roll Laura throws at her as she steps into the room and takes a seat on the edge of the bed.

Carmilla finally puts the book down and looks over to Laura, “What’s up buttercup?”

Laura fidgets with her hands for a couple of seconds, she knows she needs to do this but that doesn’t make having a potentially awkward conversation any easier.

“I think we need to talk Carmilla” She finally says

“Okay” Carmilla nods, “What about, wait are you breaking up with me? If it’s about prom I swear I’ll ask you it’s only been a few days since we found out and there’s soo much pressure.”

Carmilla said it all with a fake valley girl accent that made Laura crack up

“No I’m not breaking up with you idiot” Laura says with a smile on her face. Carmilla always manages to calm her nerves, even when she didn’t know Laura was nervous in the first place.

“Phew” Carmilla dramatically wipes her brow in relief, “Then what’s up, what’s with all the squirming”

She gestures to Laura who is still fidgeting with her hands.

“Well I do want to talk about this relationship.” Carmilla just nods, recognizing that Laura is being serious now.

“What about it?”

“Well Mattie said we need to be more convincing and I think she’s right, but I’m not sure what we should do. I know that whole thing at the fundraising dinner the other night was a little awkward and I don’t want to be caught off guard again so I think we need to discuss what is acceptable and what is off limits.” Laura stops fidgeting as she speaks, looking into Carmilla’s eyes to let her know that she is serious.

“Okay we can do that, no problem. You had me worried something was really wrong for a second there.”

Laura’s shoulders relax completely as Carmilla agrees. She should’ve known Carmilla wouldn’t make this a big deal.

“So where do we start?” She asks

“Well how do you normally act when you’re in a relationship. If we need everyone to believe this is for real we should start there.”

Laura’s shoulders drop again. “I don’t really know, you know I haven’t really had a serious relationship yet, nothing longer than a month or two.”

Carmilla smiles, “Well that’s still more successful than all my relationships.” Laura laughs, “How about you tell me how all your favourite couples in all those fanfics you read act and then we can decide what aspects were willing to do and which ones will be too weird.”

“Hey! I don’t read..” Laura starts to object and Carmilla raises an eyebrow with a smug look on her face, “Okay I don’t read that much fanfic, but sure we can give it a shot. Although how am I supposed to know if something makes me feel uncomfortable if I’ve never done it before.”

Carmilla takes a deep breath, pondering the question. “Okay how about this, we both act the way we think we would if we were in a relationship and then any time something happens that is even a little weird or awkward we tell the other person and never do it again.”

“Okay deal” Laura says, “And we can start now because my dad asked if we could go grocery shopping for him he’s been pretty busy this week and hasn’t had the time.”

“Alright cutie lead the way” Carmilla says and gestures to the door.

XXXXX

 

They walk into the grocery store hand in hand, only letting go when Laura has to grab a cart.

“So did your dad leave a list or is he just trusting out judgement?” Carmilla asks as they begin to make their way through the store.

“He gave me a basic list and then said we can get whatever else we need” Laura says with a mischievous grin

“Ah, so that explains why we’re in the cookie aisle” Carmilla says and Laura just shrugs

“Yeah I like cookies, so sue me.” Carmilla just shakes her head in amusement as Laura bounds over to a shelf and starts inspecting the different cookie options.

Laura spends a few minutes weighing her options before she finally decides which kind she wants. They just so happen to be on the top shelf, and as she gets up on her tiptoes to reach for the package all she manages to do is push it a little further back.

She stays there struggling for a few seconds, wiggling her fingers back and forth to try and grasp the packet. She feels a hand come to rest on her hip and then sees Carmilla’s other hand stretch over her as she leans into Laura, using her extra inch of height she is able to reach the cookies.

She looks down at Laura with a gloating smirk on her face, “Are these the cookies you wanted sweetheart.”

Laura pouts for a second before reaching out and grabbing the package, “I could’ve gotten it” She says, and Carmilla laughs.

“How about thank you Carmilla for coming to my rescue because I’m too short to get the cookies.”

“You’re only like an inch taller than me Carm” Laura almost whines

“Yeah, and don’t you forget it” Carmilla says with a smile, she reaches over and bops Laura on the nose before taking the cookie package back out of her hand and tossing it into the cart.

Laura sticks her tongue out at Carmilla, as any mature adult would do in the situation. Carmilla laughs again and they continue on down the aisle.

 

They spend the next hour wandering through the store laughing and having a good time as they search for the ingredients Sherman Hollis requested, and Carmilla does her best to the limit the amount of candy Laura throws into the cart.

They were just about finished when Laura stopped suddenly in the middle of the aisle. Carmilla had been walking a step behind her and ran right into the cart.

“Ugh, a little warning next time cupcake” She says, rubbing her hip where it had banged into the cart.

“Sorry Carm, I just remembered, Dad won’t be home tonight so he said we should grab ourselves something for dinner while we’re here.”

Carmilla looks pointedly down into the shopping cart full of food. “I think we have plenty of stuff cupcake, we’ll be able to figure something out.”

“Well” Laura draws out the word, a small pout already forming on her face and Carmilla knows she’s about to get suckered into something.

“I was thinking, remember that one time your mom was out of town and we had a sleepover at your house and you cooked for us”

“Yeah I remember” Carmilla says, knowing where this conversation was going

“That pasta you made was sooooo good and you’ve always refused to tell me how you made it, so I think you should make it again tonight.”

Carmilla smirks, “Oh so you want me to cook for you?”

Laura smiles playfully, she already knows the other girl is going to agree, she just always has to make a big show about it before she caves.

“Well, what kind of a girlfriend would I be if I refused” Carmilla’s smug smirk drops into an actual smile as Laura squeals in delight and gives her a hug.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you. You’re the best” Laura says, practically jumping up and down with excitement

“Come on cutie, we’ve got to grab a few more ingredients then.” Carmilla starts to head down the aisle and Laura follows after humming happily.

They finally make it to the check out a few minutes later, and they start putting everything in the cart up on the conveyer belt. They’ve almost finished when Carmilla notices a few chocolate bars that she didn’t remember Laura grabbing.  
“What are these” She asks holding them up for Laura to see

“Chocolate bars duh” Laura says and moves to grab them out of Carmilla’s hand

Carmilla moves them just out of Laura’s reach, “I don’t remember agreeing to theses, don’t you think you got enough sugar already with the cookies, the cocoa, and the gummy bears”

Laura starts to pout again, “Aw come on Carm, don’t be lame it’s delicious chocolate”

Carmilla melts once again, she really needs to learn how to say no to that pout. “Fine” She says handing the bars over to Laura who smiles happily and hands them over to the cashier who had rung everything else up whilst they were talking.

“But I’m eating half of them so you don’t go into a sugar coma cutie” Carmilla says leaning in so she’s close to Laura’s ear.

Laura shudders at the feeling of Carmilla’s warm breath hitting her neck.

“You guys are just the cutest couple” The cashier says, breaking them both out of their little trance. “You’re the senator’s daughter aren’t you, I’ve seen you guys in the newspaper, you’re baking Matska Belmonde in the election.”

Carmilla looks over to the cashier and nods before looking back at Laura, “Yes we are, and thanks I don’t know how I got lucky enough to land this one.”

She winks at Laura who goes bright red and lets out a little squeak instead of responding. Carmilla chuckles and places a soft kiss on her cheek before smoothly walking towards the door.

Laura stares after her for a few seconds before she realises Carmilla left her with all the groceries to carry to the car.

“Hey! Get back here and help you lazy little” Laura starts out yelling but she realises Carmilla is too far away to hear her and mumbles the last few words as she grabs all of the grocery bags.

She hears the cashier chuckle at her and she turns to thank her for bagging their groceries and stuff before she scurries off to catch up to Carmilla.

 

XXXXXXX

 

Laura is in the kitchen washing the dishes from their dinner while Carmilla looks for something to watch. From where she is standing at the sink she has a good view of Carmilla as she flicks through channels on the tv.

She looks so relaxed and at home and Laura couldn’t be happier in that moment. They’d had an amazing afternoon, and an even better evening as Carmilla cooked and softly sang along to the music Laura was playing as she tried her best to help cook. 

She’s suddenly struck with a feeling of how grateful she is to have Carmilla in her life. She’s really glad they had that sort of talk earlier and now everything seems to be going great. If this is what the next few months of being in a fake relationship with Carmilla was going to be like she can’t wait. As long as she doesn’t do anything stupid like kiss her again everything will turn out great.

She’s standing there like an idiot smiling to herself with a plate in her hand with Carmilla turns to look at her.

“What’s got you so happy creampuff” 

“I’m just really glad you’re my friend Carm” She says shrugging

Carmilla’s face seems to flicker through a couple emotions with that sentence, and Laura thinks she almost looks sad for a second before she smiles and pats the spot next to her on the couch.

Laura puts away the last dish and joins her, immediately cuddling up to her side and turning to see what she had chosen to watch.

“I’m glad you’re my friend too sweetheart, god knows what I did to deserve you”


	8. Chapter 8

“Yeah okay Bye!” Carmilla hung up the phone as quickly as she could as Laura turned the corner and walked into her room.

“What was that?” Laura asks

“Nothing, just a phone call. What’s up do you need something?” Carmilla asks hoping Laura won’t notice her subject change.

Laura narrows her eyes and scrunches up her forehead and Carmilla starts panicking internally trying to come up with an answer for the question she’s sure is about to come, and then Laura shrugs and walks all the way into the room taking a seat on the desk chair.

“Not really I’m just bored so I thought I’d come see what you were up to.” Laura says finally and Carmilla visibly relaxes.

“I thought you were doing your homework?” Carmilla says

“I was, but then I got bored” Laura shrugs

Carmilla chuckles, “Well then creampuff, what would you like to do?”

“Wanna go get ice cream?” She asks with a giant grin

“I swear you like sugar more than you like me” Carmilla says with a smile. Despite what she says she gets up and starts to put her shoes on so they can go

Laura laughs, “Maybe I do” She says and Carmilla looks up from her shoes, a fake hurt look on her face.

“But don’t worry, you’re a very close second” Laura says with a wink, grabbing Carmilla by the hand and dragging her towards the door.

 

XXXXXXXXX

 

Laura might be losing her mind. Just a little bit, but she’s sure something is going on. Or at least she thinks she’s sure, she can’t really tell right now.

Carmilla has been acting weird since yesterday when she hung up the phone and refused to tell Laura who she had been talking to.

Then this morning on the way to school she was unusually quiet. Then in biology class she snapped on some kid who had accidently knocked some papers off her desk.   
In her class with Laf Laura had tried to casually bring it up and ask Laf if they had noticed Carmilla’s odd behaviour. Laf had denied noticing anything at all saying Laura was too tightly wound and she needed to relax, because Carmilla was just being her normal self.

Then at lunch Carmilla had seemed fine, but she kept glancing at her phone and then at Laf and Perry over and over, she hardly looked at Laura the entire time. 

Laura had tried to talk to Carmilla about it near the end of lunch after Laf and Perry rushed off to go do something. But Carmilla had said the same thing Laf had said earlier, she was fine, maybe just a little tired, but Laura was just reading too much into it.

Now Laura was sitting in one of her favourite classes, her journalism class, and she wasn’t taking in a word the teacher was saying.

Her journalism class is the only class she has this year that doesn’t have Carm or one of her other friends in it. She was happy about that at first, journalism is the one class she really pays attention to, so it was good that she didn’t have anyone in there to distract her. 

But today she really wishes there was someone in here that she could talk to. She’s worried that something happened with Carmilla’s mom, or worse Carmilla somehow found out Laura actually likes her and now she doesn’t know how to talk to Laura anymore.

Laura spends the first 30 minutes of class stuck in her own head worrying about Carmilla. She’s only brought out of her stupor when the principal, Mrs. Tullos walks into the room. The entire class goes silent as she walks in. Mrs. Tullos isn’t a mean principal, in fact she is one of the nicest adults at the school, and everyone respects her. So when she walks into a room no one says a word until she speaks first.

Mrs. Tullos walks over to the journalism teacher and says something to her that Laura can’t hear. Her teacher nods and they both step out into the hallway. They talk for a few minutes and then the teacher comes back into the classroom, Laura thinks for a second that her teacher was staring at her as she walked back in, but that’s probably just further proof that Laura is going crazy.

She spends the rest of the class trying her best to actually pay attention, she wants to major in journalism in the future so she needs to take this class seriously.

Then when there is less than ten minutes left in the class Laura starts to hear an odd tapping noise. She looks around at everyone sitting near her to try and see who is tapping against their desk, but she can’t see anyone.

She tries to ignore it but the tapping gets more insistent and Laura knows she’s not crazy this time because she can see the other students looking around to try and find the source of the noise.

She catches some movement at the window out of the corner of her eye. She turns to look, and yeah, she is definitely losing it. There’s no other explanation for why she can see an owl sitting on the window ledge, rapping on the glass with its beak. 

Maybe the food she had for lunch earlier was laced with something. Yeah that’s possible right?

Then the girl sitting next to Laura loudly yells, “Oh my god! Look there’s an owl knocking on the window.” So maybe Laura isn’t completely insane

Everyone turns to look and they all start murmuring about that owl that is still tapping.

To Laura, and everyone else’s great surprise their teacher doesn’t yell at them all to stop talking and pay attention. No, instead she walks over to the window where the owl is, and she opens it. 

A few people gasp and one girl shrieks as the owl flies into the room, circling over everyone’s heads before it comes to a rest landing on Laura’s desk.

Laura doesn’t know what to do, she’s never seen an owl up close before. She’s so busy staring at the face of the admittedly beautiful animal that she doesn’t notice the paper tied to its foot until the girl next to her points it out.

“Look it’s got a letter on its ankle” She says.

When Laura looks down, sure enough there’s a letter attached to the owl, and what’s even weirder than that is the letter is address to her.

Laura Hollis is written on the front in green ink in fancy script. Laura hesitates for a second before carefully reaching down to untie the string holding the letter.

The owl has clearly done this before as it lifts up its leg slightly to give Laura easier access. 

Once Laura gets the letter off the owl hops up and flies out through the same window it entered from.

The room bursts out in loud chatter as everyone starts discussing what they just saw, and they all keep looking back at Laura.

After watching the owl fly away Laura turns her attention to the letter in her hand. She turns it over and sees a small wax seal. She carefully opens the envelope and slides the letter out. She unfolds it and gasps, throwing a hand over her mouth as she begins reading.

 

Dear Miss Hollis, 

I am pleased to inform you that you have been invited to prom at Silas high school. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary items that your date promises to help you find for the dance without whining about it. The dance is in three weeks and I await your answer (preferably in person but you can do it by owl) as soon as possible.

Yours truly, 

Carmilla.

(P.S. Cupcake stop blushing your whole class is staring at you).

 

Laura looks up from reading the letter and sees that Carmilla was right, everyone is staring at her. She catches the eye of her teacher who has a sly grin on her face as she gestures with her head over to the door of the classroom.

Through the glass panels Laura can see Carmilla standing in the hallway. She grabs her stuff and all but sprints out of her seat and into the hall. Tackling Carmilla in a hug as soon as she reaches her.

Before she can say anything to Carmilla the bell rings and students begin filing out of their classes and into the hallway.

Carmilla just grabs Laura’s hand and silently leads her to the art room for their last class of the day. They are the first ones in the room and as soon as they’ve both put their stuff down Laura jumps onto Carmilla again giving her another hug.

“I can’t believe you did that Carm. That was like the coolest thing anyone has ever done for me.”

Carmilla shrugs, “So is that a yes then?” She asks setting Laura back onto the floor.

“Of course it’s a yes Carm! I would’ve said yes even if you had just casually asked me, I’m definitely saying yes when you brought to life every Harry Potter fans fantasy.”

Carmilla laughs, somewhat from relief as Laura squeals excitedly and gives her one more hug.

They break apart when they hear Laf and Kirsch walk into the room.

“Hey little nerd everyone in the hall is saying you got a letter from a bird, that’s so cool! What did the bird say?” Kirsch yells excitedly when he sees Laura

Carmilla laughs and Laura goes to explain when Laf cuts her off “So it worked then?” They say to Carmilla who nods in response.

“Wait, you were in on this Laf” Laura asks

“Of course, I made broody here a little device that would let the owl know which person to land on and she put it in the hood of your jacket before you went into class. I also gave them a copy of what the real Hogwarts acceptance letter looks like so it could be authentic.”

Laura’s hands immediately start digging around in her hood and she pulls out a small little device.

“That’s so cool! It worked perfectly, I didn’t even know it was there” She says handing the device to Lafontaine

“I can have a very soft touch when needed” Carmilla says

At this point the rest of the class has shown up and everyone is whispering and glancing back at Laura and Carmilla. 

“So I take it she said yes then” Laf asks and Carmilla nods again.

“Said yes to what?” Perry asks as she walks over with Danny and they all begin to take their seats.

“Oh I get it” Kirsch says loudly, “Carm-sexy over here sent Little nerd a letter asking her to prom, but she sent it by owl just like those Potter movies Laura loves.”

“Really?” Perry asks, “An owl in school, that can’t be safe.”

“It was totally fine Per” Laura says, still excited “And yes Laf I did say yes to going to prom with her”

“High five” Kirsch says loudly, holding up a hand to Carmilla.

Carmilla rolls her eyes but gives Kirsch a high five anyway.

“If you guys are all finished back there, I’d like to start class” The art teacher suddenly says, causing the class to quiet down.

“Oh yeah, go ahead and start whenever you’re ready” Carmilla calls back sarcastically. The teacher glares back at her but doesn’t respond. Laura lightly hits her shoulder, “Behave” she says through her giggles.

 

XXXXXX

 

“Come on Carm, you have to tell me. Please!” Laura said with a pout.

They had just finished eating dinner and Laura was in the process of making them both hot chocolate while Carmilla finished putting away the dishes they had just washed.

“I can’t tell you, I’ll lose my air of mystery.” Carmilla says with a smirk

“Yeah right, like you have any secrets from me Carm.”

“You’d be surprised” Carmilla quietly mumbled under her breath

“What was that Carm, are you mumbling because you know I’m right.”

“What’re you right about?” Laura’s dad asked, walking into the kitchen.

“Dad! You’re home early. I wish you would’ve told us we would have waited to eat with you.” Laura said giving her dad a hug.

“Ah that’s alright pumpkin, I didn’t think I would get out this early. So what were you two talking about when I walked in.”

“I was just trying to get Carm to tell me where she got an owl from” Laura says shooting Carmilla a smug grin.

“An owl” Mr. Hollis asked looking puzzled.

“Yeah Carmilla used it to ask me to prom today.” Laura said excitedly

“Oh that’s great, I’m happy for you both. But how did an owl come into play?”

Carmilla chuckled at the puzzled look on the older man’s face as Laura began to explain the details in a rapid-fire ramble. 

“I see, well I’ve got to hand it to you Carmilla, that’s a pretty inventive way to ask a girl to prom. You definitely know my baby girl here really well.” Mr. Hollis said once Laura had finished explaining, they had moved into the living room at this point.

“Yes sir, and I’m very lucky to have the chance to know her.”

“What did I say about calling me sir, you’re family now Carmilla, especially when you treat my daughter so well.”   
Carmilla blushed and looked down, not knowing how to respond.

“Well if she really treated me so well then she wouldn’t get me guessing on how she had access to an owl.” Laura teased walking over to sit by Carmilla, placing her arm around the girl. 

“Yeah I would also like to know the answer to that one” Mr. Hollis spoke up

“Mattie knows a guy that trains birds. I called her up and asked her for a favour, it wasn’t that difficult really. Although I was a little nervous your teacher would freak out and not let it into the classroom.”

Laura laughed, “Wait did you go to Mrs. Tullos, is that why she came into my class?”

“Yeah, that lady has a weird fondness of you Laura, and of our relationship, she was all too happy to help out once I told her what it was for.”

“Well sounds like a pretty well executed plan if you ask me” Mr. Hollis said. “Now if you girls will excise me I’m going to go take a shower.

He got up and left the girls alone on the couch.

They sat together for a while, not really talking just enjoying being in each other’s presence. Then out of nowhere Laura shot up and turned to look at Carmilla, “Wait a minute was that what that phone call was about yesterday?” She asked

“What?” Carmilla said not following the other girls train of thought.

“Yesterday you hung up the phone really quick when I walked into your room and you wouldn’t tell me who it was.”

“Oh yeah, I was talking to Mattie’s friend about the owl.”

“And you being nervous about it working, is that why you were acting so weird and avoiding me today?”

Carmilla nodded, “Yeah I’m sorry if I worried you, I just didn’t want to accidently spill the beans before it happened.”

“Oh thank goodness” Laura said leaning over to cuddle into Carmilla’s side. “I thought something had happened with your mom or something that had put you in such a weird mood.”

“Nope, it’s just difficult to keep things hidden when your girlfriend is an investigative journalist”

Laura laughs, “Not yet but I will be.”

“I’m sure you will” Carmilla says with a smile


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised this one is twice as long as normal to make up for the short chapter last week. Just a tiny bit of angst, but mostly fluff because I can't write angst well and I prefer fluff anyway.

After Carmilla’s promposal Laura and Carmilla were once again the talk of the school. Some people were talking about how sweet it was, others were complaining that there was no way to ask someone to prom now that wouldn’t look lame in comparison to what Carmilla had done. One thing almost everyone agreed on though was they couldn’t believe that resident badass Carmilla Karnstein had done something so sappy in front of everyone.

Laf sat down at the lunch table with a smug grin on their face, “You know the entire school is talking about how whipped you are” They said to Carmilla

Carmilla didn’t even bother to look up from her book, she just flipped them off. 

Lafontaine laughed, “Where is your better half anyway?”

Carmilla sighed and marked her place in the book before closing it and looking up at Laf. “She’s in her journalism class going over a paper with her teacher, she’ll be here soon.”

“Ah I see, that explains the anti-social behaviour” Laf says gesturing to the book

“I’m always anti-social” Carmilla scoffs

“Not when Laura is here to make you participate, hence the whipped comment” Laf smirks

“I’m not whipped, I’m just putting on a good show like I was told” Carmilla grumbles

“Hmm well either you’re full of crap, or you’re the best actor I’ve ever seen. I’m inclined to believe it’s the first.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about Dr. Frankenstein”

“I take that as a compliment, and I’m pretty sure I know exactly what I’m talking about. If you want my advice I’d say you’re better off just telling her the truth.”

Carmilla sneers, “Good thing no one’s asking for your advice ginger Freud”

“Carm stop insulting our friends” Laura appears over Carmilla’s shoulder. 

Laf watches in amusement as the sneer on Carmilla’s face instantly morphs into a small smile. 

“But what if your friends deserve to be insulted cupcake?” Carmilla asks as Laura sets her stuff down on the chair next to Carmilla.

“OUR friends” Laura emphasizes the word, “only deserve it sometimes Carm. Now I’m gonna go buy some food do you want anything?”

“Grab me a drink” Carmilla says handing Laura a twenty-dollar bill 

“Water doesn’t cost twenty bucks Carm” Laura says 

“Well your dad won’t let me help pay for anything at the house. My mom might have kicked me out but she can’t touch the trust fund my dad left for me.”

Laura sighs exasperated, Laf can tell they’ve had this discussion before. “Fine you can buy lunch this time, but don’t think this is going to become a thing.”

“Whatever you say sweetheart” Carmilla says with a smirk, “Oh and make sure you buy more than just cookies for lunch.”

A sly grin comes over Laura’s face, “I’ll think about it” She says as she turns and walks over to the lunch line

Carmilla just chuckles as she walks away.

“Yeah totally not whipped and just putting on a show” Laf says with a smirk, “I guess you forgot the only other person here right now knows the truth.”

Carmilla doesn’t have a retort so she just flicks them off with a scowl on her face and then turns to stare at Laura waiting in line.

 

XXXXX

 

The next two weeks pass by fairly quickly. Laura can’t remember a time when she was this happy. Ever since they had that talk about their relationship everything has been great, she and Carmilla are closer than ever. Sure there’s been a few moments where Carmilla has done something sweet and Laura wanted nothing more than to kiss her, and then she remembered that it wasn’t real and it felt like a slap in the face every time. But for the most part it’s been pure bliss.

Like last weekend when they went shopping for Laura’s prom dress, Laura dragged into almost every store in the mall and Carmilla followed along with almost no complaint. Laura had finally narrowed it down to two dresses and she couldn’t decide between them so Carmilla had her try them both on and show them to her.   
When she walked out in the first dress Carmilla told her she looked great, but when she walked out in the second dress Carmilla didn’t say anything she just walked up to her, pulled her into a dancing position and gave her a little twirl.   
“You look amazing cupcake, and if you don’t buy that dress I’ll buy it for you” She said as she pulled her back in.

Needless to say, that dress was now hanging in Laura’s closet waiting for prom night, which was now less than a week away.

They were still the talk of the school, but it was mainly about how happy they seemed to be together. It also helped that they were kind of celebrities, or at least that’s what Lafontaine said when they showed them an article in the newspaper about the upcoming election and the giant photo in the middle was the two of them walking hand in hand out of the mall. Apparently, every article or news story about the election inevitably ended up mentioning the two of them, apparently a lot of people thought they were cute together.

 

XXXXX

 

As much as Laura was looking forward to going to prom on Saturday she was also dreading the end of the week. On Friday night the first debate was being held for the senate candidates. Mattie asked Laura and Carmilla to be there and they hadn’t discussed it since. Laura was worried about Carmilla, it was going to be the first time she saw her mother since she had kicked her out.

Carmilla had avoided the subject every time Laura had tried to bring it up, but Laura knew Carmilla was nervous about it because she had steadily gotten quieter and quieter as the week progressed.

Now it was Thursday evening and Laura knew she needed to talk to her about it. The only problem is her dad has the night off and she doesn’t really know how to bring it up in front of him. 

They were all sitting down at the table to eat dinner when Sherman beat Laura to the punch.

“So girls I signed up to work security at the debate tomorrow night, so I can give you a ride if you want.” He said as he began loading his plate with food.

“Oh you didn’t have to do that sir, Laura and I will be just fine” Carmilla said

“I’m sure you girls will be, but I’d like to be there just in case and besides these extra security gigs pay really well. Not to mention I’d like to have a word with your mother if I could.”

“NO!” Carmilla and Laura both say at the same time. 

Mr. Hollis looks between both girls sceptically. Carmilla is staring at her plate and Laura is staring at Carmilla.

“Okay…. And why shouldn’t I speak to her. I’m sure she would at least like to know how you’re doing Carmilla.”

“I’m not sure if she even knows that I’m staying with you guys” Carmilla says sheepishly

“Surely she has asked where you went?” Sherman asked. After a bit of silence it dawned on him, “Has she even tried to contact you at all?”

“No” Carmilla mumbled softly

“Dad can we please not talk about this right now” Laura pleads

“Of course, I’m sorry Carmilla I just assumed she would still at least keep tabs on you. But we can talk about something else. Are you girls excited for Prom this weekend?”

Laura smiled gratefully at her dad before she answered the question. It took a couple minutes but eventually Carmilla joined in on the conversation and the rest of their evening was uneventful.

As Laura was getting ready to go to sleep she heard a knock and looked up to see her father standing in her doorway. 

“I’m sorry if I made Carmilla uncomfortable tonight. I was going to go talk to her about it, but something tells me she’d rather talk to you. So why don’t you go join her, it’s still a school night so don’t stay up too late, but make sure she’s doing okay.”

Laura walked over and gave her dad a hug, “Thanks dad, I know you didn’t mean to upset her, things with her mom are just complicated.”

Sherman chuckled, “I can tell, I promise not to spring the conversation on her anymore. But I can’t promise I won’t give Lilita a piece of my mind if I see her tomorrow.”

Laura laughed, “I wouldn’t expect anything less dad”

Sherman continues on down the hallway to his bedroom and Laura goes back into her room, grabbing her stuff before making her way to Carmilla’s room.

She knocks lightly on the door frame to get Carmilla’s attention. Carmilla was lying in her bed reading, she looked up when she heard Laura knocking and Laura walks in and takes a seat on the edge of the bed.

“Sneaking into your girlfriend’s bed on a school night, what your father say cupcake?” Carmilla says with a smirk.

“My father sent me in here actually, he’s worried he upset you by bringing up your mom.”

Carmilla sighs and scoots over, patting the bed so Laura crawls over and joins her. “I suppose you want to talk about it then.” Carmilla says after Laura gets herself settled

“I’m just worried about you Carm. You keep avoiding the topic, but you won’t be able to avoid her when we’re in the same room as her tomorrow.”

“I know cupcake and I appreciate your concern, but I just don’t want to think about her. Every time I do I just get so angry, and I’m tired of being angry. I wish she didn’t still have this hold over me, but she does.”

“Of course she does Carm, she is your mother and you’ve only been away from her for a little over a month. Like it or not our parents have a way of sticking with us.”

Carmilla sighs, “I know she’s technically my mother, but she was never a mom to me. I lost my only parent when my dad passed away.”

Laura gives her a sad smile, “I won’t pretend to know what that feels like Carm, but you know you can talk to me about this kind of stuff right?”

Carmilla sighs again, “I just don’t want you to see me like that Laura, she makes me so angry and I don’t want to accidently take it out on you.”

Laura reaches over and gives her a hug, pulling their bodies closer together on the bed. “Do you remember when we first met Carm?” Laura asks

Carmilla gives her a puzzled look, “Yeah at the end of middle school you were in detention for the first time ever in your little life, and I thought it would be fun to mess with you a bit.”

Laura smiles at the memory of fourteen-year-old Carmilla tossing paper airplanes at her during detention.

“Yeah, do you remember why I was in detention that day?”

“You said something about yelling at someone.” Carmilla said with a frown trying to figure out where Laura was going with this.

“I was arguing with a teacher that was a friend of my dad’s and I told them to fuck off.”

“Oh cupcake, how did I not know this. You know you swearing is one of my favourite things.”

Laura laughs, “I don’t think anyone but Laf knew the whole story, and they only know because they were there. The teacher was checking up on me because my dad asked them to. It was about a week after my mom left.”

Laura stopped talking and Carmilla reached over and threaded their hands together. She knew that Laura’s mom had left her and her father before she had met her, but Laura never brought it up so Carmilla didn’t know the details.

“I was angry back then Carm, I was angry at the world. Angry at my mom for leaving, angry at my dad for letting her go, and angry at myself because I knew I was the reason she left.”

“That’s ridiculous cupcake”

“I know, I know that now. But back then I couldn’t see past my anger. I spent months just angry at the world and it affected every aspect of my life. I pushed everyone away and my grades started slipping, I know my dad was terrified I was going to get myself in trouble.”

“So how did you get over it?” Carmilla asked

“Well after I got that detention my dad grounded me, and I had a lot of time alone in my room to think. One day I finally realized my anger wasn’t doing anyone any good. I let that anger rule my life and it had just steadily gotten worse. I realized that I had to accept that sometimes the world is an unjust place. Sometimes you draw the short stick and get stuck in a shitty situation, but you can’t let that dictate the rest of your life. So I decided to let it go, it didn’t happen overnight, but gradually I got back to my old self. And I understand now that if I hadn’t let that anger go, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I wouldn’t have this wonderful life, and I wouldn’t have you. Now every time I feel that anger coming back I just think about everything I have despite the shitty things, and it makes it easier to move on”

They’re both quiet for a minute as they take in what’s just been said, then Carmilla leans over and pulls Laura back in to herself, lying them both down onto the pillows.

“Thanks cupcake” She whispers into her ear

Sherman wiped the tears from his eyes as he stood in the hallway. He hadn’t meant to eavesdrop he was just going to get a glass of water when he heard his daughter talking about his ex-wife. 

 

XXXXXXX

 

They walk into Mattie’s office after school the next day. Once again it’s full of frantic people running around and talking loudly on their phones.

Carmilla grimaces immediately and Laura can’t help but smile at her friend’s sour mood. They make their way through the cubicles to Mattie’s office, and they once again see her assistant Ell at her desk near the door.

“Carmilla so good to see you again” Ell says with a smile, “and Laura” She adds as an afterthought.

Laura huffs as Carmilla addresses the girl, “The queen asked us to stop by” She says pointing to Mattie’s office.

Ell laughs like Carmilla had just said something hilarious, “Sure no problem, I’ll let her know you’re here.” She picks up the phone, but continues to stare intently at Carmilla

Laura wouldn’t normally describe herself as a jealous person, but this girl is really starting to annoy her. Every time they come to see Mattie Ell treats Laura like she doesn’t even exist while she hits on her girlfriend. Okay her fake girlfriend, but Ell doesn’t know that, she thinks, so what she is doing is just wrong.

Ell hangs up the phone, “She said you can go on in” She flashes Carmilla another smile and Laura has to bite her tongue

Carmilla seems oblivious to what is going on as she just nods in thanks and walks into Mattie’s office.

“You know you should get a bigger office space, or higher quieter employees this place gives me a headache” Carmilla says as she walks in

“Hello to you too dear” Mattie responds

“Yeah yeah, so what’s up Mattie?”

“I just wanted to warn you guys that there is going to be a little news interview after the debate tonight, and I would like you to join me.”

“Wait you want us to talk to a reporter?” Laura asks

“Yes, it seems I somewhat underestimated the attention you two would get throughout this election. I’ve received many requests for you two to do an interview and I figured doing this one right after the debate will mean the reporters wont focus completely on you.”

“I don’t want to talk to some sleazy reporter about our relationship Mattie” Carmilla says matter of factly

“I know kitty, but you know I wouldn’t be asking you to do this if I didn’t think it was important”

“What if they ask us a question that we don’t have an answer to?” Laura asks

“I’m sure you’ll think of something, you’re bright girls.” Mattie says with a bit of a tone

Carmilla shoots her a warning glare, “She’s doing you a favour Mattie, don’t you think you could be a little nicer”

“I don’t know what you mean Carmilla, I am being very nice.”

“Whatever Mattie. Look we’ll do the interview, but if they ask anything I don’t want to answer then we will walk out.”

Mattie nods, “Fair enough, I’ll make sure they know what questions are acceptable. Now do you guys have any other questions before tonight?”

“Uh yeah, does anyone else at this office know the truth about us?” Laura asks.

She feels herself blush as Mattie stares at her for a little too long before answering the question.

“Nope you can never be too carefully when Lilita is involved. Why do you ask?”

Laura glances quickly over her shoulder at Ell, “Just wondering” She says 

Mattie grins, “I see. Well you two should run along I’ve got a lot of work to do before this evening.”

 

XXXXX

 

They walk into the large town hall auditorium where the debate is being held. There are already a few people in the audience and even more people running around trying to set up cameras or deliver papers. They’re walking toward the area where Mattie told them to be, Mr Hollis is behind them, and a couple of people recognize them as they walk past. a few of the news reporters try to get their attention and they do their best to ignore them.

They take their seats which they are both disappointed to find are in the front row.

Sherman makes sure they’re okay before heading off to take his post for the security detail.

They watch as the room begins to steadily fill up for almost thirty minutes, afraid to do much else with all the cameras pointed at them. 

When the debate finally starts they announce the candidates and Lilita walks onto the stage first. Laura feels Carmilla tense up next to her and she places a hand on her knee, softly running her fingers along the seam of her jeans until she feels Carmilla relax slightly. 

She lets her hand rest on Carmilla’s leg as the other candidates make their way onto the stage. There is five in total, but everyone knows the only viable threat to Lilita is Mattie, and they are both standing centre stage.

Just as Laura decides she should probably move her hand because it’s been a few minutes, she feels Carmilla’s hand come down and cover her own. She looks over at Carmilla who flashes her a grateful smile, softly squeezing Laura’s hand in thanks, and then their attention is pulled back to the stage as the first question is asked.

 

XXXXX

The debate ends, and the auditorium is buzzing. Laura isn’t 100% sure who won, she’d like to say Mattie but then again, she is a little biased. Lilita and Mattie had both made excellent points and you could tell they were prepared for every question.

They can hear the reporters breaking down the debate as they make their way backstage to where they are supposed to be joining Mattie for the interview.

As they turn a corner they come face to face with Carmilla’s mother. She seems a little surprised to see them for a second before her face sets into a hard glare and she walks past without acknowledging either of them.

Laura hears Carmilla exhale a deep breath and she looks at her with concern. Carmilla seems to be holding it together well and she reaches over linking her hand with Laura and continuing to walk. 

Laura isn’t sure where exactly they’re supposed to meet Mattie, and she is deciding who would be the best person to stop and ask when she hears the high pitch drone that is Mattie’s assistant’s voice.

They both turn and see Ell waving them over, “Mattie asked me to escort you guys to the interview.” She says, once again focusing solely on Carmilla.

Laura huffs, she is seriously getting sick of this girl. Carmilla hears her and looks over, noticing the sudden change in Laura’s mood. She squeezes Laura’s hand to get her attention, “You alright cupcake”

“Fine” Laura mumbles, “Let’s just get this over with”

Carmilla gives her a sceptical look, but before she can press the issue any further Ell speaks.

“Just take a seat in this room, Ms. Belmonde and the reporter should be here momentarily”

Neither one of them responds as Carmilla is still looking at Laura, and Laura sure as hell isn’t going to be nice to Ell right now. She does get a hint of satisfaction as she notices Ell frown slightly at being ignored before walking away. 

They walk into the room and take a seat together on a little couch. They are in there for 15 seconds before the door swings open and a reporter walks in with a camera man and Mattie a few steps behind.

“Carmilla, Laura my name is Nancy it’s so great to meet you. Thank you for agreeing to talk with us.” The reporter introduces herself

“We’re happy to be here” Laura says with a smile and Carmilla nods politely in agreement.

They talk logistics for a few minutes, arranging the seating and setting up the camera. Carmilla glances at Laura a few times but whatever had her upset a few minutes ago seems to have been forgotten as she happily asks the reporter how she got into her line of work. Carmilla can’t help but smile, only Laura would interview the person that’s meant to be interviewing them.

Once the camera starts rolling Nancy says her intro for the segment and then introduces each of the girls. Then she begins, most of the questions are about the debate so Laura and Carmilla don’t participate much just adding a comment every once in a while.

The conversation shifts a little about 15 minutes in and the reporter turns to face Carmilla and Laura directly. “So Carmilla, you’ve been talked about quite a bit during this election. Was it hard for you to choose between backing your step-sister and your mother?”

“No it wasn’t. I stood behind my mother for years, because that is what you do, you support your family. But now that I am old enough to vote I had to be an informed voter, I did the research and I believe Mattie is the best choice to help our state.”

The questions continue for a few more minutes, now more focused on Carmilla and Laura. They answer with ease, Mattie and her team prepared them well.

Then a question catches them off guard. “How do you respond to the accusations some have made that you and Miss. Hollis are only publicly backing Ms. Belmonde because you had an argument with your mother?”

“My mother and I argued yes, but I wouldn’t back someone if I didn’t think they were the right person, and Laura certainly wouldn’t either, she’s the most honest person I’ve ever met.”

Laura smiles at Carmilla in thanks, “Your relationship has gotten a lot of attention during this campaign. Some people are saying your mother doesn’t approve and kicked you out, others are saying you are both faking the relationship to get revenge and to try and make Lilita look like a bad person. Any comments on that?”

Laura speaks first this time, “Lilita doesn’t approve of our relationship, that is true. I’m not sure why, maybe she doesn’t like me, but that doesn’t mean we are out for revenge. I would still vote for Mattie if Lilita was the most supportive and loving mother in the world to Carm.”

“I don’t know how I got lucky enough to be sitting next to this girl right here, but if anyone thinks Laura would put up with me and this weird family of mine for months just for a chance at revenge they’re delusional.”

Mattie cracks a smile at that and Laura chuckles softly. Nancy the reporter seems satisfied and the interview ends shortly after that.

 

XXXXX

They make it back home and they both feel too wired to sleep. Sherman heads straight to bed but Laura suggests they make cupcakes. 

“Cupcakes really? Why would I want to do that now sweetheart?” Carmilla says with a smirk

“Because all our friends are coming over tomorrow to hang out before prom and it’ll be nice to make cupcakes for them.”

“You just want to eat cupcakes” 

“I mean we will have to taste test them” Laura smiles wide and Carmilla cracks, “we better get started then.”

 

Laura loves sweets, especially baked goods, but it turns out she is terrible at making them. They only started five minutes ago, Carmilla making the cake batter from the box mix and Laura was making icing. Or she was attempting to make icing, but it just looked more like sugary soup than icing.

“The internet recipe said this was supposed to be easy” Laura says with a pout

Carmilla looks over and chuckles, Laura has managed to cover herself in icing sugar.

“You’re supposed to put the ingredients in the bowl cupcake” Carmilla says walking over

“Hey I tried, this stuff is just attracted to me or something” Laura says with a grin

“You’re an idiot” Carmilla says with a smile, wiping some sugar off Laura’s cheek

The insult is said as a compliment and Laura can’t help but laugh. She just wants to live in this moment forever, forget about everything else going on in their lives and just stay here and be happy.

“Takes one to know one” She says after a beat and Carmilla just shrugs not arguing the point, if anything she almost looks happy to have been found out.

“Well we make quite the pair then don’t we” Carmilla says, and when did she get so close. Laura glances at her lips, unable to help herself having Carmilla so close to her. She notices a little bit of powdered sugar on the corner of her mouth and she doesn’t hesitate to reach a hand up and brush it off with her thumb.

“That we do” She says after a moment, and if Carmilla doesn’t stop looking at her like that she is going to do something she’ll regret. 

She musters up all her self-courage and turns back to the bowl grabbing it she presents it to Carmilla.

“Help me fix it please” Carmilla sighs and it sounds heavy for some reason to Laura. 

“How does anyone say no to you creampuff, that pout isn’t fair”

Laura just smirks and hands the bowl to Carmilla, “Make sure it’s good, the icing is the best part”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has read and left comments and kudos. I have had fun writing this story and I am so close to finishing my thesis for grad school so once I turn that in next week I should be able to get the next few chapters out faster.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay with this chapter guys. My school work took longer to finish than I thought it would but I'm officially done now so the last few chapters shouldn't take as long as this one did.

Is it possible to feel incredibly happy, yet extremely nervous and terrified all at the same time? 

If you had asked Laura a few months ago her answer would’ve been no, but she can’t think of any other way to describe the way she is feeling right now.

She can hear her father chatting politely with all of her friends who arrived a few minutes ago. They had all agreed to travel to prom together. 

She was just adding the finishing touches to her make-up and then she was going to go out and join them, and Carmilla.

Carmilla who had refused to tell Laura what she was wearing to prom no matter how many times Laura had asked this past week. 

Laura takes a deep breath, giving herself a once over in the mirror. This is as good as it’s gonna get she thinks, nodding to herself as she smooths out the front of her dress.

She hears muffled footsteps approaching her room, “I told you I’d be out in a second Laf, have some patience” Laura calls over her shoulder

“Not Laf, sweetheart” She hears Carmilla say softly, she shivers as they make eye contact through the mirror as Carmilla walks up behind her placing her hands on Laura’s waist.

Carmilla breaks the eye contact to glance down at Laura, her eyes slowly running up and taking her in.

“You look breath taking Laura” It’s almost a whisper with Carmilla’s mouth being so close to her ear. 

Laura doesn’t know what to say in response, so she stays quiet. Her hand reaches back grabbing Carmilla’s hand a squeezing softly, trying to convey what her mouth couldn’t as their eyes once again meet through the mirror.

They stay that way for a few moments until a loud laugh from the living room breaks them out of their trance. Carmilla clears her throat and takes a step back, releasing Laura’s hand.

Laura takes a deep breath and turns around, and suddenly all of the air rushes from her lungs. She hadn’t been able to see Carmilla’s outfit when she was pressed up against her back, but now she can and she’s pretty sure she won’t be able to look at anything else for the rest of the night.

Laura has seen Carmilla wear a dress on a few occasions before, normally things for her mother’s campaign. While she always looked stunning in them, Carmilla never really seemed to like them that much. So Laura should’ve guessed that for the one occasion that has nothing to do with her mom Carmilla would wear a tux.

But Laura never could’ve imagined just how well Carmilla could wear a tux. Holy shit, it has to be tailored because it fits her body perfectly. Her eyes run up and down appreciating the way the jacket frames her shoulders and the pants hug her just right.

“Wow Carm” it’s all she manages to say as she continues to stare. She hears Carmilla chuckle and her eyes snap back up to her face.

“I take it you like my outfit choice then” Carmilla smirks

Laura nods softly, but before she can say anything Laf barges into the room. “Yo are you guys coming or what?” They say loudly, not noticing how both girls jump slightly in surprise.

“Yeah were coming sorry” Laura says ducking her head in embarrassment.

She moves to follow Laf out of her room but she is stopped by Carmilla grabbing her hand and lightly pulling her back

“You ready for this creampuff?” She asks softly

“Yeah lets go have some fun Carm, you deserve it.” They make their way out together and are greeted by a chorus of whistles and chants by their friends as they walk into the living room

“About time”

“Looking good hotties”

“Are you two ready were going to be late”

“You clean up nice Hollstein”

The last comment gives them both pause and everyone in the room turns to look at Laf.

“Hollstein?” Laura asks

“You know, Hollis and Karnstein. Its your couple name, like brangelina” 

Carmilla snorts and everyone else starts to laugh.

“Alright everyone let me get a few pictures and you can be on your way” Mr. Hollis calls out

There’s a few good-natured grumbles as he proceeds to take too many group shots and then has each couple take a few.

He takes way too many photos of Laura and Carmilla and they only manage to get away when the limo they had all rented pulled up and honked loudly.

 

XXXXXXX

The group walked into the dance and were immediately hit with a wave of loud music and even louder kids. There were quite a few people on the dance floor already, although it seemed the majority of people were hanging at a table or near the refreshments.

Carmilla grimaced slightly at the crappy pop song blaring through the speakers. Laura noticed and chuckled grabbing her hand and leading her over to an empty table. The rest of the group followed and laid their stuff down claiming the table as their own.

Kirsch bounded off to get a drink and Perry and Laf went straight to the dance floor.

“Want to get a drink?” Laura asked Carmilla

“I’m alright for now, do you want one?” Carmilla asked

Laura shook her head now and they lapsed into an uncomfortable silence. Laura wasn’t sure what to do now that they were here. She had been so excited for prom but she forgot that the only thing to do will be dancing and while she doesn’t particularly mind dancing she is terrible at it and usually needs a drink or two for courage first. Not to mention Carmilla generally hates dancing especially to this kind of music.

They stay seated for a couple minutes holding an awkward stilted conversation. Carmilla sighs loudly and stands up holding her hand out to Laura.

“Come on creampuff, I promised you a good time at prom so lets go” she nods towards the dance floor and Laura smiles excitedly. She stands up grabbing the hand Carmilla was offering her and they made their way over to the dancefloor.

 

XXXXXX

They danced together with their friends around them for an hour. Laura was having the time of her life jumping to the beat, watching Laf and Perry and Kirsch dancing like fools. Carmilla was just enjoying watching Laura have fun.

The music stopped as principal Tullos walked onto the stage. Everyone quieted down and most of the people who were sitting down made their way over to the dancefloor to listen.

“Well I hope everyone is enjoying themselves tonight”

Everyone clapped in response to the principal

“This is normally the part of the evening where I call all of the nominees on stage and announce the winners of the prom queen and king vote. But as you’re all aware we already have a winning couple.”

A few people turned to look at Laura and Carmilla who were both looking a little sheepish at the attention.

“So I think it’s time for these two lovely ladies to join me on stage and accept their crowns. Laura, Carmilla, come on up here guys.”

Laura felt her hand automatically reach out and slot into Carmilla’s waiting one. They silently made their way over to the stage and as they walked up they heard Kirsch whistle and yell in appreciation. 

Kirsch’s actions broke them out of their serious stupor and both girls cracked a smile at their ridiculous friend. 

Feeling a little less tension now their steps were lighter as they approached principal Tullos.

She made a big show of placing the crowns on their head, Carmilla rolled her eyes once Mrs. Tullos had her back turned to place the crown on Laura. 

“Well I have to say I agree you two were definitely the most fitting choice to win this year. What do you guys think?” she faced the crowd as she spoke, and a polite cheer and applause rang through the students.

“Congratulations to both of you, and now if you will take your place on the dancefloor and lead our last song of the night.”

Both girls glance at each other in surprise, they didn’t know that they had to dance in front of everyone. 

Mrs. Tullos doesn’t give them much time to react as she all but pushes them down the stairs and into the middle of the dance floor. A circle has formed in the middle of all the students and as Laura and Carmilla reach the centre the DJ cues up the song.

Laura looks petrified so Carmilla steps up to her, taking Laura’s hand and placing on her hip and then placing her own hand on Laura’s back.

“Breathe cupcake, just follow my lead” She whispers into her ear

She feels Laura nod and begins to softly sway them to the music. They dance together for a few moments and then Carmilla spins Laura and when she pulls her back in, closer than before Laura’s head rests on chest for a moment.

Laura picks her head up and leans so that her forehead is resting on Carmilla’s.  
“I’m so glad you know what you’re doing here Carm, I thought I was going to make a fool of myself.”

“I wouldn’t let that happen cupcake” Carmilla says with a soft smile.

Other students have joined in now dancing around them, but neither girl has noticed. They continue to move together, eyes locked on one another, and everyone watching can see the love between the two girls.

“I’m so lucky I know you Carm, I don’t know what I would do without you.” Laura whispers

“I promise you’ll never have to find out. But I’m definitely the lucky one here” 

Laura doesn’t know what to say in response to that, so she does the only thing she’s been wanting to do since she first looked at Carmilla this evening. She leans in slowly and kisses her

She feels Carmilla gasp slightly before pressing back against Laura’s lips. It’s a soft sweet kiss and it only lasts for a brief moment before they pull away, staring once again into each other’s eyes.

Laura opens her mouth to say something, she’s not entirely sure what but she knows she needs to say something to Carmilla.

Before she gets a word out the room goes silent as the song ends and then the DJ switches it over to a loud pop beat as he makes a call over the mic that the dance was over, and it was time to leave.

Both girls take a step back only now remembering where they were. Laura turns and catches Laf’s eye for a second before Kirsch walks over wrapping an arm around a shoulder of each girl.

“Well that was awesome, come on ladies time to go.” They allow Kirsch to lead them out of the building and back into the limo they had arrived in.

Everyone else is already in the car laughing and having a good time.

“There they are, the couple of the hour” Laf yells as they scoot in

Perry, Kirsch, and SJ cheer and Laura blushes, “Shut it Laf” she says and that just causes everyone to break out in laughter

Laura and Carmilla join in after a moment because the good mood is infectious. Everyone had an amazing night and they don’t want it to end as the car pulls out of the parking lot to take them all home.

 

XXXXXX

Carmilla wakes up to a warm weight on her chest and a sharp pain shooting down her back.

It takes a couple seconds before her mind clears the sleepy fog hanging over it and she realises that she is not on her bed but instead curled up on a couch. 

A groan from above helps her realise the weight on her chest is Laura, and she is beginning to wake up as well.

Laura picks her head up and scans around the room with sleepy eyes. Danny is passed out on a chair, Laf and Perry are on the other couch and Kirsch is on the floor.

“Cupcake why are we on the couch, we have beds just down the hall” Carmilla rasps, she had yet to actually open her eyes, still hoping that she might be able to fall back to sleep.

“I think we fell asleep watching a movie with everyone”

Carmilla opened one eye and glanced around, “Ugh we either had the worlds most boring orgy, or your lame friends thought watching a movie was the best thing to do after prom.”

Laura giggles, “I don’t remember you having any better ideas last night Carm.”

“Oh I had plenty of ideas, just didn’t think you’d appreciate it if I said them in front of the ginger squad” Carmilla winks

Laura blushes but she squints her eyes down at Carmilla in what she hopes is a challenging glare. Carmilla continues to stare back at her with a smug smile.

Laura caves and lowers her head before pushing herself up into a seated position with a huff.

Carmilla lets out a loud groan as she rolls over stretching the sore muscles in her back.  
Laura’s eyes flicker down to Carmilla’s exposed midriff before she quickly looks away as Carmilla stands. 

She makes her way into the kitchen and starts a pot of coffee, “Save me a cup” Laf groans, the noise in the kitchen having woken them up. Carmilla doesn’t respond just continues with her task in the kitchen.

When she walks back into the living room with two mugs she notices that everyone is awake now. Laf makes a grab for one of the mugs but Carmilla shakes her head, “There’s more in the kitchen if you want some lazy” she says as she walks past Laf and hands a mug to Laura.

Laura smiles in thanks, taking a sip and humming in appreciation at the amount of cream and sugar Carmilla knew to add. Laf scoffs at Carmilla but makes their way into the kitchen to grab their own mug anyway.

XXXXXX

Everyone left a few hours later and Carmilla went to take a shower as Laura tidied up the mess that had been left behind.

Once Carmilla remerged freshly showered and changed Laura decided to go and take a shower herself. While taking a shower Laura thinks back on the night before, she had a blast with all her friends, but she knows it wouldn’t have been half as fun if she had gone with anyone other than Carmilla. As she thinks about their night together she freezes, hands covered in shampoo and halfway to her head.

Holy shit, she kissed Carmilla yesterday. She had been so nervous about it afterward and didn’t want to bring it up in front of everyone. Carmilla hadn’t seemed upset for the rest of the evening, but maybe she was just putting on an act for everyone. After all they had agreed no more kissing and Laura had just ignored that rule and kissed her in front of the whole school, she needs to apologise before this gets any worse. She’s kicking herself now as she continues to shower, everything had been so perfect these past few weeks, of course Laura would ruin it by letting her feelings get too involved

Laura walked out of the shower to find Carmilla sprawled out on her bed reading a book.  
“You know you have your own room with a bed right?” Laura asks

“I know, but I swear your pillows are comfier, especially for reading.” Laura rolls her eyes and walks over to her closet to grab some clothes. She pulls on a pair of sweatpants and hesitates for a split second before dropping her towel to throw a shirt on. Her back is to Carmilla and when she turns around Carmilla’s eyes are buried in her book and she’s not sure if she is disappointed or relieved.

“Good book?” Laura asks taking a seat on the edge of her bed.

“Yeah…ehm yeah, its decent” Carmilla clears her throat and Laura notices a hint of a blush, maybe Carmilla was as focused on the book as she had pretended.

“Can we talk for a sec Carm?” Laura asks with a more serious tone. Carmilla nods and puts her book down

“About last night, I just want to apologise. I know we agreed not to make each other uncomfortable and I just keep doing things without making sure you’re okay with it first and I’m really sor…”

Carmilla holds up a hand cutting her off, “Laura” she says quietly grabbing Laura’s hand that was flailing awkwardly as she spoke.

“I don’t know how many times I have to tell you this before you believe me, you never make me uncomfortable creampuff. Last time we had this conversation I told you I would be honest with you if you ever did something I didn’t like right.”

Laura nods, “Yes you did, but I didn’t give you a chance to say anything about it and I just feel bad”

“Don’t Laura, if I didn’t want you to kiss me you wouldn’t have even gotten that close. How many girls have you seen me shut down when I wasn’t interested”

Laura laughs because it has happened quite a bit, and Carmilla smiles at her. “So if you were uncomfortable with what happened last night then that’s fine, I’ll make sure we never get roped into a position like that again, but if not then just let it go because I didn’t mind.”

“Really?” Laura asked

“Really cupcake”

Laura smiles, “Oh okay. That’s, I mean that’s good. I also don’t. didn’t hate the mouth thing, I mean.”

Carmilla laughs, “Okay then, neither one of us was uncomfortable with the ‘mouth thing’ so we can continue on with our lives.”

“Okay cool, glad that’s settled then” Laura says with a nod. She stands up quickly, “I’m gonna go get a snack do you want anything or..” She points awkwardly toward the door

Carmilla chuckles, “I’m good spaz” Laura blushes and nods one more time before walking out the room.


	11. Chapter 11

So if neither one of them was uncomfortable with what happened at prom, that means Laura could probably kiss Carmilla again, to authenticate their relationship of course, and Carmilla would be okay with it. Right? Or did it mean she was taking advantage of Carmilla if she kissed her without Carmilla knowing Laura’s real feelings?

Laura had been having this internal debate for the past 48 hours and she was worried Carmilla was going to pick up on her internal struggle. That girl had a special talent for knowing when Laura had something on her mind and she was always good about giving Laura her space to sort it out but eventually Carm would ask if she could help, she always did, and Laura always appreciated it, but she couldn’t get Carmilla’s input on this one, so she turned to the next best thing.

“So what do you think Laf?” She asked, she had furiously whispered her dilemma to Laf in the back of their classroom while the rest of the class worked in pairs to finish their assignment. 

“I think you might be over thinking things just a little bit there frosh. Carmilla said she didn’t mind kissing you, which by the way I could’ve told you that months ago, and while I think just telling Carmilla the truth will solve all your problems, I think you’re fine to go ahead and kiss her again.”

Laura nods, “Okay really, because Mattie has another fundraising dinner thing this weekend and apparently out TV interview was a hit because she has demanded that we attend.

“Well there you go try it out maybe just a quick peck in front of the crowd and if Carmilla doesn’t look disgusted then you’re good to go”

“Thanks Laf, I’m pretty sure I would’ve lost my mind through this whole thing if I hadn’t had you to talk some sense into me.”

Laf smiles, “Well I am the smart one Laur it’s my role in the group to tell it to you straight. Now just think about that and consider my advice about telling Carmilla the truth.”

Laura just nods not wanting to have that discussion again, Laf may know a lot but Laura knows Carmilla best and while yes Carmilla flirts with her she knows that’s just part of her personality and Laura shouldn’t read too much into it.

 

XXXXXXX

 

They walk into the large room where Mattie is holding her fundraising event. It was supposed to be a casual lunch thing to try and make Mattie seem more laid back and approachable. Carmilla had almost died laughing when she heard that, she doesn’t think she’s ever seen Mattie not dressed up and looking regal, and she had seen her at like 6 in the morning when they lived in the same house.

She and Laura were happy to be able to just wears jeans to the event though, so they didn’t complain.

Laura was buzzing with excitement as they walked into the room, she had been waiting all week for this and she was going to find the perfect moment to kiss Carmilla again. It’s all she’s been thinking about since prom and she’s confident she will find a way to make it look like its just for show.

“Mattie’s over there” Carmilla points to the far corner of the room where Mattie seems to be deep in discussion with someone.

They make their way over and Mattie smiles when she sees them, “Excuse me for just a moment” She says to the lady in front of her and she turns grabbing Carmilla and Laura by the shoulders and steering them in a different direction.

“Thank god, I didn’t think she would ever stop talking” Mattie whispers once they’re a good distance away.

Carmilla smirks, “Glad we could be of service”

“Yes, and now I need you to continue to be of service”

“What do we have to do this time?” Carmilla asks

“Not much dear, most of these people are here to question me about my policies, all I need you two to do is stand by yourselves and look stupidly cute so they have something distracting to look at while I make my way around the room.”

“Why didn’t you hire some puppies then” Carmilla groans

“I believe that’s what I did” Mattie smirks

Laura laughs, “She got you there Carm” 

“Excuse me if anyone here is puppy like it is definitely you” Carmilla counters

Laura sticks her tongue out in response and Carmilla playfully rolls her eyes

“Perfect just like that” Mattie says, walking away to go and talk to someone else leaving Carmilla and Laura looking mildly embarrassed in the middle of the room.

They spent the next hour just hanging out and chatting, sometimes with other people in the room who walked over to say hi, and sometimes just amongst themselves.

Laura was having fun, just joking with Carmilla, she was a little disappointed that since they were left to their own devices she hadn’t had an opportunity to try and kiss Carm, but she was still having a great afternoon.

Her smile that had been present for the entire afternoon dropped off her face in a flash when she noticed Mattie’s assistant Ell walking over to them over Carmilla’s shoulder.

Ell walked up and tapped on Carmilla’s shoulder, Laura glared hard as Carmilla turned to see who had touched her.

“Hey Carmilla, you having a good time?” She asked

Carmilla shrugged, “It’s not been too bad, I’ve had Laura to keep me company”

Laura glares again at Ell who is actually looking at her this time, and then she grabs Carmilla’s hand.

Carmilla glances over at Laura, the girl has an unusually tight grip on her hand. She notices Laura is glaring at Ell and it suddenly clicks. Laura’s tone around Mattie’s office and asking if anyone else knew about their relationship, Laura was jealous. Of course Carmilla had noticed Ell flirting but she had brushed it off as harmless, some people just like to flirt. She hadn’t noticed how it seemed to annoy Laura and now that she’s actually thinking about it, Ell rarely talks to Laura which probably pissed her off even more.

She’s trying to decide her best course of action when Ell clearing her throat catches her attention.

“Mrs. Belmonde ordered pizza for the staff would you like to come grab a slice Carmilla?” Ell asks and this time Carmilla picks up on the strong eye contact and the blatant ignoring of Laura’s presence

“No I’m good here with Laura” Carmilla says and she doesn’t bother waiting for a reply as she turns and walks away, slightly dragging Laura with her by their intertwined hands.

“Thanks Carm” Laura says with a smile

“Laura, Carmilla, come join us over here for a moment” Mattie calls them over to an area where she is talking to two older women.

“Hello ladies it’s wonderful to meet you, I’m Cathy and this is my wife Elaine” a lady with grey hair and a kind smile holds her hand out to the girls in greeting.

“Nice to meet you” Laura says shaking Cathy’s hand, “I’m Laura and this is my girlfriend Carmilla”

“Oh we know who you are dear” Elaine says, “We were just telling Miss Belmonde how we were hoping to meet you two.”

“Us really?” Laura asks in surprise

“Yes we were discussing the two of you with a couple f our friends, we think it’s wonderful how you two set such a positive example of a healthy happy relationship for young girls out there. Its something we would’ve have loved to see when we were young kids trying to figure ourselves out.”

“Oh wow thank you” Laura says shocked

“We weren’t really trying to be role models or anything” Carmilla said

“and that’s what makes your relationship so pure and a good example. You aren’t out here parading your relationship for fame you genuinely care about each other and it’s a nice refreshing thing to see”

Laura and Carmilla look at each other in shock before turning back to the older couple. “Well thanks I guess, I don’t think either one of us realised that we could have an impact on others with this.” Laura says

“Well you have had a positive impact on a lot of people I’m sure.” Cathy smiled and shook both their hands again before heading off with her wife to chat with other people.

“Oh man Carm, are we terrible people?” Laura asks, “We just lied straight to their faces”

“You’re not a terrible person cupcake, if those people find something good in what we’re doing then what’s the harm. They never have to know the truth.” 

Laura nods, “You’re right, thanks Carm”

Carmilla smiles, “Now come on cupcake lets go mingle one last time then this thing should be done.” She puts her arm around Laura and they walk together to the centre of the room where everyone seems to be congregating to say their goodbyes.

Mattie thanks everyone for coming and for their donations and the crowd begins to thin as people start leaving. Laura and Carmilla find themselves shaking hands and nodding politely at people as they leave. The couple from earlier throw them a wink as they walk past.

Soon enough its just Laura, Carmilla, Mattie, and the staff cleaning up the room.

“Well that went about as well as I could have hoped” Mattie said sounding pleased

“Perfect, so that means Laura and I can leave right?” Carmilla asks

Mattie rolls her eyes, “Yes dear you can go. Honestly you’d think I was torturing you with how quick you are to run away”

Carmilla smiles and Laura speaks up, “We can stay and help clean up if you want”

Carmilla shoots her a look and Laura chooses to ignore it. Mattie looks Laura up and down before smiling slightly, “Don’t worry about it moppet, that’s what I pay these people for” She gestures around the room to the people working

“Perfect bye then” Carmilla says, grabbing Laura and pulling her out of there before she volunteered them for any more work.

“Don’t forget my press conference tomorrow, you’ll need to be on stage” Mattie calls after them.

Carmilla waves her hand in a vague acknowledgement that they heard her and they’d be there before they exit the room.

 

XXXXXX

 

Carmilla sighs as they stand off to the side waiting to walk onto the make shift stage. She looked over at Laura who was standing next to her and looking out at the small crowd.

“Sorry we had to waste our whole weekend with campaign events cupcake” Carmilla said

“It’s okay Carm, I don’t mind.” Laura shrugs flashing her a quick smile

“I know they are tedious and boring, how about I take you out for dinner to make up for it.”

“I really don’t mind Carm, but I won’t say no to dinner, especially if there is dessert involved as well” Laura smiled bigger this time and Carmilla laughed

“Dinner and ice cream it is then. Thank you again for putting up with all of this for me creampuff. I would be bored out of my mind if you weren’t here with me.”

“Of course Carm, I am happy to help. It’s not like I had much going on during my weekends before this anyway.”

They get directed to walk out onto the stage and they link their hands before emerging in front of the small crowd or supporters and news cameras.

They weren’t required to participate in this one, just stand on the stage to show their continued support. The latest straw polls had shown Mattie had taken a slight edge over Lilita for the first time and Mattie wanted to capitalise on the momentum.

So they stood there for thirty minutes listening to a speech they had heard variations of for the last two months. Laura hadn’t been lying when she told Carmilla she was happy to help, but she would be lying if she said she wasn’t bored out of her mind.

Being on stage and on camera had kind of lost its charm and now she was just ready to be done with this campaign. Although she definitely wasn’t ready to end her relationship with Carmilla, so maybe this campaign should continue for a while longer.

Laura began to fall down a rabbit hole in her mind as she thought about what was going to happen to their relationship once this election ended. Then she berated herself for worrying when they still had an entire month to go. Then she realised a month wasn’t actually that long in the grand scheme of things

Then she felt herself jump as someone placed a hand on her shoulder, pulling her out of her thoughts.

“Cupcake Mattie is done speaking we can walk off the stage now.” Carmilla whispered in her ear

“Oh thanks sorry I must have zoned out at the end there.” Laura said

Carmilla laughed, “Yeah I noticed. Where’d you go up there” She asked motioning to Laura’s head

“I was just thinking, you know how I can ramble turns out I can do it in my own thoughts too.”

“What were you thinking about that had you so oblivious to the rest of the world?” Carmilla inquired as they made it off the stage although they were still in full view of most of the audience.

“Well I was thinking about you” Laura said, and she’s not sure why the truth decided now would be a good time to pop out of her mouth but she can’t deny it felt pretty good to admit something even if it was only a small fraction of the truth.

“Me? Really? What about me? Did I do something to upset you?” Carmilla asked turning to fully face Laura.

“No of course not” Laura reassured her, “actually I was thinking about this relationship and” Laura looked down at her feet. She knows now is definitely not the best time to start this conversation, but the words are actually coming to her for the first time so she’s taking it as a sign to continue.

Carmilla looks slightly concerned and her full attention is on the small nervous girl in front of her. She places her hand on Laura’s chin and raises it so they are looking at each other once again. She watches as Laura takes a deep breath in a steely determination set in her eyes

“There’s something that I should probably tell…..” 

“Carmilla you did a wonderful job up there. Mattie asked me to come and” the rest of Ell’s sentence fell onto deaf ears as Laura groaned and deflated all the confidence leaving her body as Ell placed a hand on Carmilla’s shoulder, turning her so that she faced away from Laura and more towards Ell.

Carmilla hadn’t registered what exactly Ell was saying to her, she was more focused on trying to figure out what Laura was going to say. She glanced over to get a glimpse of the girl as she nodded mindlessly to whatever Ell was saying. Laura looked upset and Carmilla wanted to fix it immediately, and then she watched as Laura’s expression turned to one of pure rage for a second before it switched to the most heart wrenching look Carmilla had ever seen.

It took a millisecond for Carmilla’s brain to catch up to her ears as she was focused solely on Laura but she finally registered what Ell had said.

“I was wondering if you wanted to go grab some dinner and go over the notes Mattie has about the next event?”

Carmilla realised she had been nodding her head in an attempt to get Ell to stop talking and now it looked like she had agreed to get dinner with her.

“Wait what I’m sorry I wasn’t fully paying attention there Ell. Did you just ask me out? In front of my girlfriend?” She asked and taking one more glance at the heart broken and at the same time murderous look on Laura’s face she turned back to Ell who looked a little sheepish.

“I just thought you might want to, I mean Laura seems okay and all but” As Ell speaks Laura scoffs and turns to walk away. Carmilla catches her by the arm and pulls her back into her

“You need to get one thing straight here Ell, I have been nice and put up with your blatant flirting because you work for my sister. But I’m done being nice now, I’m sick of you being an asshole to my girlfriend and I can’t believe you thought that was an okay thing to do. Just in case it wasn’t clear I don’t want to go out with you, I barely want to speak to you most days and frankly I should’ve said something about this weeks ago and I’m sorry I didn’t. I love Laura and if you can’t understand that or show her the respect she deserves then you can just fuck off because she is way better than you will ever be!”

Carmilla had pulled Laura into her chest when she tried to leave, and she looked down to see tears forming in her eyes. She leaned down and placed a light kiss against her lips, hoping that Laura understood that she meant every word she had said.

As she pulled back Laura’s hand came up to ghost lightly over her jaw line and Carmilla lightly growled at the contact before her hand went to the back of Laura’s neck and pulled her in for a proper kiss. Their teeth knocked together but neither girl pulled away as their anger and a few other emotions poured through them and the kiss deepened, their lips sliding messily together until they were both panting against one another’s mouth. 

Carmilla hadn’t realised just how loud she had gotten during her little rant until she broke apart from Laura and they realised that everyone was looking at them and there were even a few cameras pointed their way as well.

Carmilla grabbed Laura’s hand and pulled her over to her car. They both got in and Carmilla began to drive without saying a word.

Once they had calmed down slightly Carmilla looked over at Laura and found she was already looking at her.

“Where are we going?” Laura asked, she had noticed Carmilla wasn’t driving towards her house.

“I promised I’d take you for dinner sweetheart, I’m not going to break that promise because my sister’s assistant acted like a bitch” Carmilla flashed a mischievous smile and Laura laughed

“Okay cool because I’m starving”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait guys. I had a lot of trouble writing this one, I kept restarting it and i'm not completely happy with the final result but I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, there's only one more chapter left!

“I’ll take the birthday cake ice cream with cookie dough and sprinkles on top” Laura said pointing excitedly at the ice cream toppings

“Would you like that in a cone or a cup?” the worker asked in a bored disinterested tone.

Laura turned to look at Carmilla who nodded, “I’ll take a cone please” Laura squealed. 

Carmilla ordered her ice cream, mint chocolate chip with a lot less enthusiasm than Laura had, and then stepped over to the register to pay. She scoffed at Laura’s offer to pay before handing money over to the cashier.

“You already paid for dinner Carm, I could’ve gotten the ice cream” Laura said as the man handed her the ice cream cone.

Carmilla smiled at the joy on Laura’s face as she immediately began licking the sides before it started dripping. “I asked you out cupcake, it’s only fair I pay. Besides can’t a girl do something nice to thank her girlfriend for putting up with this campaign shit all weekend”

Laura smiles as they take a seat on a bench outside the ice cream shop.

“I think I should be the one thanking you” Laura says

“What for creampuff?” Carmilla asked

“For what you said to Ell, for defending me when you could’ve taken her up on her offer if you wanted.” Laura immediately hid her face behind her ice cream cone as she finished speaking.

“You don’t need to thank me for that Laura. If anything, I should be apologising for not realising what she was doing to you and shutting her down sooner, especially if it got bad enough that you think I would ever have wanted to accept her offer.” Carmilla placed her hand on Laura’s arm lowering it slightly so she could see Laura’s face clearly.

“You shouldn’t have had to pick up on my feelings Carm. I really shouldn’t have let her get to me, we aren’t actually together so if you did want to maybe talk to her again..”

Carmilla cuts Laura off before she can finish that stupid sentence, “We may not actually be a couple Laura, but Ell didn’t know that and she still pursued me, I don’t want to be with someone like that.”

Laura smiles slightly at that, glad that she and Carmilla agree on Ell being a bit of a shitty person. “What kind of person do you want to be with, once this is done I mean” Laura says gesturing between the two of them as she speaks.

“I don’t think I’ll be looking for anyone after this election ends” Carmilla says

“Why not, any girl would be lucky to have you Carm.”

Carmilla smiles, “Well I just don’t think it would be fair. Any girl I date in the future would be compared to you and no one could live up to the impossible standards you’ve set.”

Carmilla smirks as Laura blushes and then turns her gaze away. After a few seconds Laura whips her head back around to Carmilla with a smug grin on her face, “So what you’re saying is I’ve ruined you for future women?”

Carmilla snorts in amusement, “I guess I am cupcake.”

They both laugh before finishing their ice cream and just holding small meaningless conversations about anything and everything for the rest of the evening.

 

XXXXXX

Laura woke up this morning with her mind made up, she is going to tell Carmilla how she feels.

It felt like an enormous weight was lifted off her chest as she admitted to herself that it was time. At this point what did she really have to lose, after everything that had happened over the weekend with Carmilla rejecting Ell and taking Laura on the most perfect date she knew she didn’t have to fear Carmilla’s reaction.

If Carmilla doesn’t feel the same way it will hurt, but Laura is sure now that it won’t ruin their friendship.

As she gets herself ready for the day it is playing through her mind almost like a mantra. ‘Gonna tell Carm how I feel, Gonna tell Carm how I feel. Got to pick a good outfit, because I’m going to tell Carm how I feel. Got to eat a good breakfast because I need my strength to tell Carm how I feel.’

Laura was ready in record time, so she sat on the couch sipping on a cup of hot chocolate as she waited for Carmilla to appear. They had developed a bit of a routine over the past few months, Laura would get ready and then eat breakfast, Carmilla would stumble out of her room two minutes before they had to leave grab the coffee that Laura had placed in a travel mug for her, and they would make their way to school.

This morning was no different as Carmilla walked out of her room looking like she had just woken up, and it was unfair how good the dishevelled thing looked on her. 

Laura was so caught up in her own plans for the day that she caught herself wondering why Carmilla hadn’t dressed up for the special occasion. It was only as she was about to voice her concerns out loud that Laura remembered that Carmilla wouldn’t know that anything about this day was special until after Laura confessed her feelings, and that was definitely not a conversation that should be held so early in the morning.

So instead she called out good morning, holding the cup of coffee out for Carmilla who grabbed it with a grunt of appreciation and they walked out of the house and into the car.

 

XXXXX

Every class Laura had that morning was spent thinking of the possible ways she could tell Carmilla and the potential outcome of each.

She was pulled out of a particularly detailed daydream of a very successful confession in which Carmilla very enthusiastically reciprocated her feelings, when she felt Laf violently shaking her shoulder.

“Frosh! Mr. W asked you a question twice!” They whisper yelled

Laura turned to their teacher with a start, realizing that everyone was looking at her.

“Pay attention Miss Hollis” Mr. W said in a reprimanding tone before turning to a student near the front of the class and asking another question.

“Where’d you go there Frosh? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you that far gone” Laf said as everyone went back to focusing on the class.

“Sorry Laf just got a lot on my mind, thanks for pulling me out.”

“Anything you want to talk about?” Laf offers

“I think I’m gonna tell Carmilla the truth” Laura whispers whilst keeping her face staring straight ahead in case Mr. W looked back at her again.

“About freakin time” Laf says loudly enough that the students around them all turned to look.

“Keep it down Laf” Laura whispers harshly

“Sorry. So when are you going to tell her, do you have a plan?” Laf asks in an excited whisper

“I’m working on it” Laura mumbles

“Well I’m sure whatever you say Carmilla will love it, but if you want a few suggestions….” Laf goes off for the rest of class talking about elaborate plans and ways for Laura to confess her love.

Laura tunes them out after a few minutes, she appreciates Laf’s help and their willingness to support Laura throughout all of this, but she knows that Carmilla wouldn’t want a grand gesture in front of everyone. As much as Carmilla tries to deny it Laura knows she is a romantic softie and she will appreciate a private intimate setting more than anything else.

Laura tunes back in as their class is ending and Laf finishes speaking. “I know what I’m going to do now, thanks Laf” Laura says

“Great! Just do it soon so you don’t lose your nerve frosh.” Laf calls as they make their way out of the classroom

“That won’t happen, I will do it tonight” Laura says mainly to herself as Laf is long gone

“What’re you doing tonight?” Carmilla says making Laura jump, “Haven’t we talked about this whole talking to yourself when others are around to hear cupcake?” Carmilla asks with a smile.

“Don’t do that Carm you scared me” Laura admonished her slightly although it was ineffective due to the smile on her face.

“Sorry cupcake, although I do meet you outside this classroom almost every day so we can walk to our next class so you should’ve expected me to be here” Carmilla chuckles

“But seriously what are you doing tonight?” Carmilla asks

“Oh um just my homework, I keep forgetting it” Laura stumbles out after a few seconds

Carmilla eyes her for a second noticing the hesitation before Laura’s answer, but she shrugs it off and they make their way down the hall.

 

XXXXX

Laura started feeling nervous on the ride back to her house after school. logically she knew that Carmilla would never hold it against her if she didn’t feel the same, but the rejection would still hurt. She finds herself wishing that Ell hadn’t interrupted them the other day, Laura isn’t sure where the surge of confidence had come from but she knows she was going to tell Carmilla the truth that day. 

Whatever confidence had possessed her then she really hopes it shows up tonight.

They pull into the driveway and Carmilla turns to Laura, “I didn’t think your dad was going to be home this early” She says pointing at Sherman’s car

“He wasn’t supposed to be” Laura says deflating a little, she was hoping to use the few hours of alone time with Carm to tell her the truth, that can’t really happen if her dad is here.

They make their way into the house and they find Sherman sitting at the kitchen table.

“Hey dad, did you get off early today?” Laura asks, setting her backpack down on the counter while Carmilla begins searching through the fridge for something to eat.

“Hey pumpkin, I’m glad I caught you guys” Sherman says, finishing off what looked like a sandwich and turning to face the two girls.

“I have to work late tonight so I came home to grab some food and my laptop but I’m heading back out and I won’t be back until long after you go to sleep so you two are on your own for dinner tonight, sorry.”

“That’s okay dad” Laura says, looking a little too relieved that her father was leaving

“Yeah I’m sure we’ll manage Sherman” Carmilla pipes up from where she is standing, her head still in the refrigerator.

Sherman chuckles, “Well just in case you don’t feel like cooking I left some money for pizza on the counter” He walks over and gives Laura a hug goodbye, patting Carmilla’s shoulder on the way past, and then makes his way out the front door.

 

XXXXX

 

“So cupcake, you wanna cook something or do you wanna order a pizza” Carmilla asks

They had been lounging on the couch for the past two hours watching TV. Carmilla assumed Laura must be getting bored or hungry, or both because she hasn’t stopped fidgeting for the last thirty minutes.

“Um let’s just order a pizza, I kinda wanted to talk to you about something so..”

Carmilla isn’t really sure what that has to do with ordering a pizza, but she doesn’t bother questioning Laura’s logic, Laura looks nervous all of a sudden.

Carmilla grabs her phone and goes online to order a pizza from their favourite place. 

When she puts the phone down she notices Laura is now standing by the couch instead of sitting on it, and she is wringing her hands in a nervous manner. Carmilla realizes that whatever this thing is that Laura wants to talk about, it is making her nervous.

“Are you okay cupcake?” Carmilla asks with concern, she scoots over slightly and pats the spot on the couch next to her.

Laura shakes her head slightly and continues to stand, she’s now hopping slightly from foot to foot. “I just, I have something I need to tell you Carm and I need to just say it so please don’t say anything until I’m done because if I stop now I might not ever say it.”

Carmilla just nods, she’s starting to get nervous herself wondering what Laura wants to say.

Laura has given more speeches in front of people than she can count, she was interviewed on the news a few weeks ago for god sake. So why is she feeling like she is about to have a panic attack when it’s only Carmilla in front of her.

“So this um, this whole thing we have been doing for Mattie, you know the um ‘US” thing” Laura says gesturing between herself and Carmilla.

Carmilla nods, she has a sinking feeling in her gut that she knows where this is going.

“Okay well I don’t want you to think that what I’m about to say is solely because of that because if I’m being honest with myself and you by extension, this has been happening for a really long time now.”

Carmilla nods again, a little confused but trying not to freak Laura out anymore than she already is.

“Okay, so I wasn’t really sure how to do this and truthfully I’m still not sure if this is the right way to go about it or if this is the wrong way but”

“Cupcake it’s just me you can tell me anything” Carmilla says in a calm voice. She isn’t sure how she managed to stay so cool on the outside when inside her heart is beating like she just ran a marathon at a full sprint and her mind is spiralling.

Laura takes a deep breath at Carmilla’s words, “Okay. Wait I keep saying okay that’s weird. Alright sorry tangent, but um what I’m trying to say here is I don’t think I can be in a fake relationship with you anymore”

Carmilla’s face falls. She knew it was getting to be too much for Laura, and she shouldn’t have pushed her to do this. Just look at how stressed her best friend has become because of her.

“No wait Carm I don’t mean it because I don’t want to do this with you anymore, what I mean is that I do want to do this” Laura gestures between them again

“I’m confused, do you want to stop because if that’s what you want Laura I understand I won’t be angry” Carmilla says trying not to let her own disappointment show

“No, I just Ugh! Why is this so hard I’m normally so good with words.”

At that Carmilla lets out a small laugh and Laura can feel herself relax a little at the sound.

“Lets try this another way.” Laura mumbles to herself, “You and I are symbiotic” Laura says thinking back on the phrase Laf had used earlier.

“We’re what?” Carmilla asked, now she is really confused.

“Symbiotic. It’s something Laf said and I guess it stuck with me.” Laura shrugs, “It means we have a mutually benefiting relationship, we rely on one another.” Carmilla hesitantly nods in agreement so Laura continues, 

“We’re bound to each other Carm, in a way that makes me feel like I couldn’t survive without you in my life. And because of that I have been too afraid to tell you something that could potentially ruin that. You are my home Carm, and if I ever did something to damage that or you it would be like stabbing myself.” 

Carmilla can see tears starting to form in Laura’s eyes and she stands up so that they are face to face. “Cupcake I’m not going anywhere I promise”

Laura smiles, “I know that now Carm, and I’m not going anywhere either by the way. But what I am trying to say is I don’t think I can fake date you anymore because I want it to be real. I love you Carm, I’ve loved you for a while now and I should’ve said something sooner, but I was afraid it would push you away. I don’t expect anything from you I just thought you deserved to know the truth, I feel like I’ve been taking advantage of you with this fake relationship by not telling you how much I enjoy it and wish it was real. So yeah…now you know” 

Laura ends her ramble, her eyes glued to the socks on her feet

“Oh Laura” Carmilla whispers and Laura feels a hand on her chin lightly lifting her face so that her eyes find Carmilla’s waiting ones.

Carmilla leans in a places a soft feather light kiss on Laura’s lips. “I have been in love with you for an embarrassingly long amount of time” Carmilla whispers against her lips before closing the gap between them once again.

Laura gasps into the kiss trying to process what she just heard, but after a second she loses herself in the feeling of Carmilla’s mouth on her own.

Laura chases Carmilla’s mouth with her own as the other girl pulls away. She settles for resting her forehead against Carmilla’s and looking into warm brown eyes, thick with their own unshed tears.

“You mean it Carm, you want this too?” Laura almost whispers it, afraid to break their moment

“Of course I do Laura, I’ve been trying to show you this whole time that I was interested in you, but you didn’t seem interested so I never said anything.”

Laura laughs, “I was trying to not seem too interested so you wouldn’t see that I was a little too into this fake relationship.”

Carmilla laughs as well and then leans in to place another kiss on Laura’s lips.

“Well I guess we were both too worried about keeping ourselves in check to notice what was going on with the other person.”

“Yeah, so how about we spend the rest of tonight not pretending or hiding anything. We can just get out of our own heads and enjoy each other's company and see where that takes us.” Laura says with a smile

“I think I’d like that very much” Carmilla grins. Laura leans in to kiss Carmilla again but the sound of the doorbell causes them both to spring apart like they had been caught doing something wrong.

They make eye contact and start laughing loudly at themselves. “I think the pizza is here” Laura says in between her laughter.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took me so long. Every time I tried to write this last chapter I just couldn't get it right. I wasn't ready to end this story.  
> But I hope you guys enjoy the last chapter I had a lot of fun writing this story and I really appreciate all of your comments and support!

They spent the evening in a very similar manner to every other evening they have spent together. After they ate dinner they watched TV together, cuddled up on the couch. Not much was said as they both just enjoyed each other’s presence without worrying about being too obvious with their feelings.

Almost every time Laura snuck a glance over at Carmilla she found Carmilla was already looking at her. This had happened multiple times before, but now instead of blushing and looking away one of them would smile and the other was unable to stop themselves from leaning in and placing a kiss on the smiling girls face.

More often than not it was Carmilla leaning in, she could still see a little bit of hesitance behind Laura’s eyes. Like she was waiting to wake up and find it was all a dream and Carmilla didn’t actually love her back. With each kiss the doubt seemed to become smaller and Laura’s smiles became larger.

 

XXXX

Laura woke up earlier than usual the next day. The first thing she did was smile as she remembered the events of the previous day, then she got up and walked down the hall to Carmilla’s room. They were both reluctant to split up last night, but they knew Sherman would not appreciate them breaking the rules, especially on a school night; and its not like they could explain the circumstances, as far as Sherman knew they had confessed their feelings for each other months ago. 

They still had about thirty minutes until they had to get ready for school so Laura tried to quietly slip under the covers of Carmilla’s bed without disturbing her. 

She realised she failed as she heard Carmilla groan and turn to face the intruder in her bed.

“Shh Carm go back to sleep we don’t have to get up yet” Carmilla didn’t argue, instead she lifted her arm so Laura could curl up against her side and closed her eyes once Laura stopped fidgeting. 

The peace lasted for all of 15 minutes before Laura started fidgeting in Carmilla’s arms. Laura wasn’t even aware of it as her mind had begun racing as soon as she had climbed into the bed. 

Last night might have been the happiest night of her life so far, but they didn’t really talk much. They were both too busy enjoying the feeling of being together without hiding their true feelings. In her barely awake state climbing into Carmilla’s bed had seemed like a great idea, but now Laura was fully awake and freaking out.

What if it’s too much, what if Carmilla wants something more casual, what if Laura was already smothering her and they hadn’t even talked about whether or not they are officially dating now.

Carmilla on the other hand, was fully aware of Laura’s fidgeting and she could take a pretty good guess as to the cause of it. Reaching over Carmilla began to lightly trail her fingers down Laura’s arm. She could tell the exact moment Laura registered Carmilla’s movement because all of her fidgeting stooped instantly.

“Something on your mind cupcake” Carmilla asked in a raspy voice.

Laura swallowed hard as Carmilla’s just woken up voice sent shivers down her spine.  
“Nope, why do you ask” Laura squeaked

Carmilla sighed and turned to fully face Laura, gesturing to her tense body language “Because I know you Laura, we don’t have to keep secrets anymore just tell me what is on your mind.”

“It’s nothing important Carm” Laura argued

Carmilla looked like she wanted to continue to push but she stopped as she heard Sherman in the hall. Carmilla knew they only had a few moments before he opened Laura’s door to make sure she was up for school and when he didn’t find her there his next stop would be Carmilla’s room.

So instead Carmilla leaned over and gave Laura a chaste kiss. “Good morning, we will finish this conversation later, but for now I suggest you start getting ready” With that Carmilla stood up and walked into the bathroom connected to her room.

Laura watched her walk away with a confused smile on her face. It wasn’t until she heard a light knock on the door that she realised why Carmilla had gotten out of the bed so fast.

“Laura stop being lazy and lounging on Carmilla’s bed, go get dressed for school” Her dad admonished as he opened the door

“Sorry dad, I was just waking Carm up” Laura said

Sherman just shook his head and walked away with a smile, catching the glare Laura had sent Carmilla’s way when she thought her dad wasn’t looking.

Carmilla just winked in response to Laura’s glare, staring at the smaller girl through the mirror as she brushed her teeth.

 

XXXXXXX

 

“Um Carm, this is not the way to school” Laura says, looking out the window

“Took you long enough to notice sweetheart” Carmilla says with a grin, “We’ve been driving in the opposite direction from the school for almost ten minutes now”

Laura smiles sheepishly, “I thought you were going to get a coffee or something on the way”

“Well we are going to do that too don’t worry.”

“Oh okay cool” Laura says. Carmilla smiles to herself waiting for it to click, “Wait! What are we doing after we get coffee?”

Carmilla laughs, “Just trust me cupcake”

“I trust you Carm, but I don’t want to get a call from my dad asking me why I’m not in school today.”

“I will handle it I promise” Carmilla said, keeping her focus on the road.

“Fine” Laura grumbles, although she can’t deny that she is a little excited to see what Carmilla is doing.

They finally pull into a small café on the edge of the town about 30 minutes later.

“You know we passed like five Starbucks on the way here” Laura says, looking around as they climb out of the car.

Carmilla just chuckles, “I know sweetheart, I just thought this would be a better place for us.”

She doesn’t offer any more explanation, instead she opens the door and holds it open, staring at Laura with a challenge in her eyes.

Laura shrugs to herself, she knows Carmilla would never take her anywhere sketchy, and they are already late for school, so she really has nothing to lose at this point. She walks inside and immediately smiles, the café is full of bean bag chairs and comfortable looking warn out couches. It’s the exact kind of place Laura loves, and she is surprised she never knew it existed. It’s also the kind of place Carmilla would normally scoff at and call an overpriced trap for wannabe hipsters.

Laura smiles at Carmilla, “This is nice, want to tell me why we’re here yet?”

“Lets get a drink first” Carmilla motions to the counter  
Once they both have their drinks in hand Carmilla leads them to a couch that’s isolated from the rest of the café, tucked away in a small corner with a bookshelf blocking most of it from sight.

“So what is going on Carm?” Laura asks as soon as they sit down. She’s been trying to keep it together all morning but she can’t shake the feeling that Carmilla brought her here to tell her last night was a mistake, and Laura’s heart feels like its breaking just at the thought of it.

“Sorry this has been so weird cupcake but I just thought we should have a proper chat about what happened last night, and I figured we needed to go somewhere where we wouldn’t be overheard.” Carmilla mumbles something else at the end but Laura is too busy mentally bracing for the heartbreak that she misses it.

“Sorry say that again I didn’t hear the last bit”

Carmilla sighs, “I said and I have been weird all morning because honestly I’m a little nervous”

Laura forgets her own fears for a minute as she sees the vulnerability in Carmilla’s eyes. She puts her hot chocolate down and reaches over to take Carmilla’s hand in her own.

“I’m nervous too Carm, it’s okay”

Carmilla smiles and interlaces their fingers, “What are you nervous about Laura?”

Laura takes a deep breath, “I’m nervous that now that you’ve had a night to think about it and your head is clear from the emotions that were running high yesterday, you don’t feel the same way. I’m nervous that I somehow ruined our friendship last night by saying those things, and I don’t think I can handle losing you Carm” 

There are tears in Laura’s eyes by the time she’s done speaking, and Carmilla feels a pang in her chest at the sadness she can see in Laura. She reaches over a wipes a small tear that had escaped despite Laura trying her best to hold it back.

“Cupcake, I meant every word I said last night. I brought you here to make sure you didn’t regret last night, but I sure as hell do not.”

Laura smiles, her eyes are still watery with unshed tears but she doesn’t pay them any mind as she leans in and presses her lips against Carmilla’s.

“I meant it as well, I love you Carm, I am in love with you.”

Even though she heard it last night Carmilla still can’t quite believe it and her face lights up. Leaning in she tries to kiss Laura again but they’re both smiling to much and then Laura breaks out in a fit of giggles so she just settles for placing a kiss on her cheek instead.

“I love you too Laura”

Laura’s smile gets impossible wider and she scoots closer on the couch to rest her forehead against Carmilla’s.

“So what do we do now?” Laura asks quietly

Carmilla smirks, “Well first we do this” She leans down connecting their lips once again and she can feel Laura’s giggle in response.

“I meant about this whole situation we have found ourselves in” Laura puts air quotes around the word situation and Carmilla quirks in head in a silent request for Laura to elaborate further.

“Well everyone thinks we have been dating for the past three months so…”

“ah” Carmilla nods in understanding, “Well lets start with this” Carmilla scoots back slightly so she can fully focus on Laura’s face. “Cupcake will you do me the honor of becoming my real girlfriend”

Laura’s response in a squeak with such a high pitch that Carmilla is sure dogs everywhere are barking. “Of course I will” Laura says once she finally gets control of her vocal cord. She leans in for what she intended to be a chaste kiss but Carmilla seems to have other ideas, cupping the back of Laura’s head, Carmilla deepens the kiss and Laura has to try incredibly hard not to let out an obscene moan in this public space when Carmilla’s tongue meets her own.

“Well now that that’s settled I couldn’t give a shit about anything else” Carmilla says after they break apart a few minutes later.

Laura giggles again, “Well I guess it doesn’t change anything really, but should we tell out friends the truth?”

“You do whatever you want cupcake. As long as everyone, especially Xena, know that you’re mine and I’m yours.”

“Well I don’t want to have to explain to my dad that we basically lied to him for three months so..”

“So it’ll be our little secret then” Carmilla winks

They spend another hour just sitting together in the coffee shop before heading to school. they arrive just before lunchtime and Laura finds herself sitting alone at the table while Carmilla is in the office explaining why they were late so the administration doesn’t call her dad.

Danny is the first one to arrive at the lunch table, she takes a seat opposite Laura. “Hey Hollis where have you been all morning?”

“Oh I just had a um thing to do this morning”

“A thing?” Danny repeats in a questioning tone, eyeing Laura warily.

Before Laura could respond Laf and Perry walk up behind Danny.  
“Hey frosh, noticed you and your girlfriend were both conveniently absent this morning. What were you two up to huh?” Laf says wiggling their eyebrows suggestively and laughing as they take a seat.

“Be nice Lafontaine” Perry admonishes, “Although you really should be careful dear, you never know what important thing you could miss when you’re late to school.” Perry directs to Laura.

“It won’t happen again Perry” Laura reassures, “it was a one-time thing”

“What exactly were you two doing then?” Danny asks sceptically

“Not that it’s any of your business sasquatch, but we had a meeting with Mattie that just ran late” Carmilla says with a glare as she appears behind Laura.

She turns her gaze toward Laura, eyes softening as she takes the seat next to her girlfriend.  
“Hey cutie, talked to Tullos we’re all good” Carmilla says, leaning in to give Laura a quick kiss in greeting.

“Thanks Carm” Laura says with a smile before turning back to look at her friends.

Danny rolls her eyes in annoyance at Carmilla’s appearance while Perry seems more than satisfied with the answer and begins focusing on unwrapping the lunch she has prepared. Laf however, is looking back and forth between Laura and Carmilla, a questioning look on their face.

Laura just shrugs at their gaze before striking up a conversation with Perry about their next class.

 

 

XXXXXXXXXXXX

 

 

Laf pulls Laura aside as they’re walking into the class that they share after lunch.

“Anything you want to tell me L? Laf asks  
“I don’t know what you mean Laf” Laura plays dumb, although the smile on her face gives her away immediately

“You know exactly what I’m talking about frosh. You and your ‘fake’ girlfriend looked awfully cosy at lunch earlier.”

“Oh yeah” Laura says with a grin, “She’s not my fake girlfriend anymore. That whole confessing my feelings thing I told you about yesterday, it went a lot better than expected.”

Laf smiles smugly, “Oh I so told you so!” They fist pump in victory and Laura laughs at their enthusiasm.

“Yeah I guess you did Laf, now come on we’re going to be late” Laura drags them into the classroom and to their seats right as the bell rings.

 

 

XXXXXXXX

 

 

The next two weeks fly by for Laura and Carmilla. Laura can’t remember a time in her life where she’s felt happier, and Carmilla has never felt so safe and secure.

They attend another fund raiser for Mattie’s campaign and it is by far the best one for both of them. Laura finds chatting with the potential donors much more enjoyable when Carmilla’s hand is drawing patterns on her back the entire time. Carmilla finds it is a lot easier to ignore the incredibly annoying and invasive questions about her mother when Laura kisses her sweetly every time after she answers without insulting someone.

At one point during the evening Laura catches sight of Ell across the room. She stares at the girl for a second, trying to decide if she should go over there and say something to her. In the end she decides to take the high road and just ignore her; but she can’t deny the satisfaction she feels when Carmilla notices what Laura is looking at and pulls Laura in for a long loving kiss, whispering how much she loves her against her lips before pulling back and pulling her attention away from Ell. They don’t see the assistant for the rest of the evening.

 

XXXXX

 

Finally, the week of the election arrives. Laura is sure it must be an incredibly stressful week for Mattie, but they don’t see her much in the last few days leading up to election day as she is out campaigning for every last vote.

Laura is busy worrying about Carmilla. She knows Carmilla will never admit it out loud, but she can tell the other girl is worried about what will happen if Mattie loses. The polls are showing a pretty tight race, and it could really go either way come election day.

The day before the election Laura catches Carmilla checking poll numbers on her laptop.  
“I thought you said you were going to read?” Laura says with a smile, standing in the doorway to Carmilla’s room.

“I am, I was just checking this first because well…” She trails off looking down at her lap sadly and Laura walks all the way into the room, joining her on her bed.

“I know you’re concerned Carm, but whatever happens tomorrow I promise we’ll get through it. Together.”

Carmilla looks up and offers Laura a small smile. “Thanks creampuff. I know that it will most likely be fine either way, I do, I just can’t help but worry what she might try and do if she does win.”

Laura pulls her into a hug. She hates seeing Carmilla so fragile like this, but at least know she can comfort her properly. “Even if she wins Carm she has no control over your life anymore. You know you’re welcome here for as long as you need, and we only have a couple months left in high school and then you’ll be free to go anywhere you want.”

“I want to go anywhere that you are Laura” Carmilla mumbles against her shoulder as they lay together on the bed.

“I want that too Carm, more than anything else. I won’t let your mother stop us from having it.”

Carmilla sits up slightly so that Laura can curl up against her chest, and she starts lightly running her fingers through her hair, feeling it relax them both.

“We can get a dorm room together, or a little apartment off campus, and spend our days worried about normal things like classes and deadlines and every night we can spend together curled up just like this. Just you and me, in love.”

“That sounds perfect” Laura mumbles sleepily and Carmilla leans down to connect their lips mumbling her agreement against Laura’s lips. 

They drift off tangled together and when Sherman comes home from work a few hours later he finds them fast asleep still in that position, Laura using Carmilla as a pillow and Carmilla wrapped around her pulling his daughter as close as she possible can.

He’s not oblivious, he realized something has changed between those two recently and he’s seen the worry in Carmilla every time the election has been brought up recently and he can tell it’s been stressing both of them out. So instead of waking them he just quietly closes the door and makes his way down to his own room. No matter what happens tomorrow he knows those two will be okay, he’s so glad they found each other.

 

 

XXXXXXX

 

 

The next evening, they decide against spending the night at Mattie’s campaign offices to await the results. Instead all of their friends come over to Laura’s house to hang out and try and distract themselves from staring at the news and waiting for the results.

They had the election coverage playing in the background, but they were all sitting together at the kitchen table playing a game of trivial pursuit.

Carmilla had been very vocal about how stupid she thought the idea of a game night was, and yet she was annoyingly very good at the game. They had agreed to play in teams of two and Laura and Carmilla and Perry and Laf had paired up instantly, so Danny was left scowling at her partner Kirsch. They spent most of the game arguing back and forth and Danny seemed to grow more and more frustrated as Laura and Carmilla took a sizable lead thanks to Carmilla’s surprisingly vast trivia knowledge.

Laura is sitting so close to Carmilla she’s practically in her lap. Perry who had lost interest in the game some time ago had begun to watch the interactions between Laura and Carmilla instead.

She knew the truth about their relationship, Laf had told her almost immediately. She also knew they would figure it out eventually, so she had kept the information to herself and watched as her two friends got closer over the past few months. Now that they had figured themselves out and were actually together, she had thought there would have been a change in their dynamic, but with each other and with their friend group as a whole.  
But it turns out she was wrong, not that much had really changed. Carmilla was still closed off and snarky with everyone, while Laura was still quick to agree to things for both of them. Carmilla still melted anytime Laura pouted and went along with whatever plan she had come up with, and Laura’s eyes still constantly followed Carmilla around the room, even when she was deep in conversation with someone else. The only noticeable change was that now they were both a little more willing to show their affections in front of the rest of them. Now when Carmilla gets annoyed or broody and snaps at someone or starts an argument with Danny, Laura will get her attention calming her down with a touch and then lean in and give her small kiss, as if she were saying don’t worry about them because I’m still here. Carmilla will always smile in response agreeing with Laura’s unspoken words before they both turn back to the group and carry on as usual.

 

When the game ends they decide to watch a movie, pulling up the election coverage on a laptop instead. At this point in the evening a little more than 30% of the votes have been counted and Lilita holds a slight 1% lead and Laura and Carmilla kept nervously glancing over at the laptop screen every 30 seconds hoping to see a change. They were cuddled up together on the big armchair and when they weren’t watching the election, they were staring at each other.

Carmilla couldn’t even say what movie was on and while Laura had actually been the one to pick the movie, she couldn’t bring herself to focus on it. The next time she glanced at the computer screen she noticed that Mattie had taken a 1% lead in the votes. It was still early on in the vote count, so she didn’t bother to point it out to Carmilla, no point in getting her hopes up just yet. The past few days had been rough on Carmilla and Laura knew she was overly tired due to her lack of sleep.

She had noticed Carmilla looking like she was about to fall asleep after they finished playing, which is why she had suggested a movie in the first place. Tired Carm means a more cuddly than usual Carm and Laura was taking full advantage of it as they were wrapped up together on the chair. 

Carmilla lasted almost an hour into the movie before she fell asleep. Mattie had a 3% lead in the count and it was 60% through. Things were looking good which had allowed Carmilla to relax just enough to fall asleep with her head on Laura’s shoulder. 

Laura wasn’t far behind her, the stress of worrying about everything and trying not to show it to Carmilla had made her just as tired. When the movie ended Perry got up from her seat and put another one on, doing her best not to disturb the sleeping girls. 

Laura woke up to someone shaking her shoulder gently. “Frosh wake up, the election results are in.”

Laura opened her eyes slowly not really taking in the words at first. The first thing she saw was Laf who was way too close to her face.

“What Laf?” She asks

“The election is over” Laf whisper yells

That’s when it clicks for Laura and she realises Carmilla is still asleep. Laf see’s the understanding dawn on Laura’s face, “I thought you would want to be the one who tells her, Lilita is about to give a speech” they say.

Laura looks over at the TV and see’s that Mattie has won, Carmilla’s mom is preparing for a concession speech.

Laura leans over and starts kissing up Carmilla’s jawline while lightly shaking her shoulder.  
Carmilla’s eyes flutter open and she grins up at Laura, “Pretty nice way to wake up sweetheart, what did I do to deserve that?”  
Danny scoffs at the two of them and Carmilla’s eyebrows furrow as she realises, they aren’t alone.

“Carm the election is over Mattie won, your mom is about to concede.” Laura says with a smile

Carmilla sits up and immediately looks at the TV where they were showing Lilita making her way to a podium on a stage.

“Oh my god she actually did it” Carmilla says softly

Everyone bursts into cheers at that and Laura pulls Carmilla into a kiss in celebration.

“Congrats bros you did it” Kirsch says clasping them both on the back

Laura laughs and Carmilla isn’t sure what to do with herself, so she just pulls Laura back in for another kiss.

“Congratulations Carm.” Laura whispers against her lips

“I can’t believe it” Carmilla says, “I really can’t believe it, my mother is going to be so pissed”

That draws more laughter from Laura and Carmilla cracks a smile. “Serves her right” Laura says and Carmilla nods in agreement.

They watch Lilita’s speech in elation and then everyone starts to head home. Saying their goodbyes and congratulating each other one last time. Laura waves goodbye one last time as Kirsch pulls away in his truck, the last of their friends to leave.

When she makes her way back into the house, she is surprised to see that Carmilla is nowhere to be seen. She pauses for a second before she realises she knows exactly where her girlfriend is.

She walks into her bedroom and sure enough, Carmilla is sat on the edge of her bed. Laura walks over and takes a seat next to her “So what do we do now?” Laura asks

“Whatever we want creampuff” Carmilla smirks before pulling her in for a deep kiss. Laura wasn’t expecting the intensity and she moans in surprise as want surges through her body.

“Hmm I like the way you think Carm” Laura says with a grin as they break apart, “I’m not sure what I want to do in the future, but I am sure that I want you there.”

Carmilla pauses touched by the sincerity behind Laura’s words. “I want that too Laura”

“Great now that that’s been established. I do know one more thing” Laura says with a sly grin pushing Carmilla lightly so she falls back on the bed.

“And what would that be?” Carmilla says with a smirk

“I know what I want to do next” Laura says as she leans down and connects their lips, pulling the sheets up to cover them and block out the rest of the world.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you guys thought here or on tumblr at the-sarcastic-skeleton
> 
> Also for anyone who might remember I started a Bones AU like a year ago and I promise it will be finished soon, I haven't forgotten about it.


End file.
